Rebirth
by LeaderPinhead
Summary: An Autobot cut down before his time; a benevolent god who gives him his second chance; a whole new can of worms to be unleashed. What's it like to grow up as a human when your past life continues to haunt you? [AU '07 Movie and eventual JazzxOC; slow progression]
1. Prologue: A God's Gift

**AN: **Greetings, and welcome to my little side project :) I'm doing something that I've never done before, and that is to start a story with nothing seriously planned whatsoever. I just have plot bunny that I thought it would be neat to write and rolled with it. Plus I'm hoping that by writing this, I'll get out of the little rut I've found myself in with my other story…and procrastinate on other stuff I need to do. Because that's what I do best :)

Time Units  
Nano-klick: ~1 second  
Breem: 8.3 minutes

* * *

Rebirth

Prologue

A God's Gift

"_Some things just couldn't be protected from storms. Some things simply needed to be broken off...Once old things were broken off, amazingly beautiful things could grow in their place."__  
__―__Denise Hildreth Jones_

* * *

Blinding pain.

That was it. The only thing going through his processor at that very moment in time. It could have been because the slagmaker himself was ripping him in half and tossing him aside like yesterday's latest fad.

It was worst when he hit the ground. Those few nano-klicks of almost processor-numbing (pit did he wish it actually numbed him) pain, and the horror of looking over and finding his legs lying a few feet away before blissfully offlining.

This was definitely _not_ the way Jazz had planned his final moments being.

**~:0:~**

Floating.

Now _this_ was a lot more preferred over the pain. Not really feeling anything. Relaxing, really.

Certainly what a laidback mech like Jazz would like to experience every now and then—between shifts maybe. He hadn't felt like this since…well, way before the war had even started. Actually that was a lie. Back when he still worked for the Security Force, he would sneak off without Prowl's knowledge and just shoot the breeze. Oh, he had wrangled up a baddie or two selling illegal parts on the streets or the newest addictive form of synthetic substances. But that was only because he had to do it later anyways.

Prowl had always given him the evil optic because seeing the criminals stasis-cuffed had always ruined his perfect lecture for not wandering off while on the job. Jazz was the only one who could smile so cheerfully, criminal cuffed beside him, and throw Prowl off at the same time.

Man, when had Jazz last seen that tight-aft fragger? Right before launching off of Cybertron to loyally follow Optimus into the stars in search of their only source of life? Or maybe their main goal had been to track down Megatron. Meh, Jazz couldn't really bring himself to care at the moment.

What was he doing, floating around? Was this what he was meant to do for the rest of eternity? Jeez, death was _boring!_ He hadn't even been dead a breem and already he wanted to do something else.

"_Only you Jazz,"_ he could hear Optimus' smooth voice say with a chuckle. _"Only you would complain of boredom after offlining." _

Yes, yes he would. Because Jazz did not do "bored." Boredom was the enemy and ranked up there with Decepticons and those tentacle life forms from the Andromeda Galaxy.

Don't ask. It still made him shiver and look over his shoulder when they were mentioned.

He could hear another chuckle from his "Mind-O.P." Wow, only in death was he just now hearing the voices in his head that Ironhide claimed he was crazy enough to have…_cool_. _"You should have listened to my descendant when he warned you against invading their personal dens."_

Wait a minute…that voice wasn't coming from his head! Special Ops protocols imbedded into his processor kicked on, forcing his body twist around in order to find some purchase in this floaty universe and the bright blue optics hidden by his optic band onlined only for him to shield them again at the overwhelming light he saw blinded him. His legs kicked in the air instinctively, attempting to get him away from the source blinding him. "Who are you? How dare you trick me with Prime's voice? I'm warnin' ya now, Ah'm not da mech ya should try an' trick."

A chuckle reverberated around him and a calming presence seemed to suddenly encompass him. Jazz fought it for a few moments before relaxing his tensed limbs and leaning into it. The presence seemed to caress his audial horns before speaking. "My child. How it pains me to greet you all under such horrible circumstances. To watch you fight such a seemingly never-ending war—that was never my intention upon your creation. You were destined to do such great things Jazz."

"Ah did do great things," Jazz answered sluggishly as the aura nearly lulled him into recharge, like a newly sparked hatchling in the arms of his progenitor. "Ah put smiles on da faces o' mechs dat had lost all hope. Ah helped raise an' protect a younglin' who had lost everything. Ah protected wha' Ah found precious an' saved many lives."

"That you did. But you also maliciously killed out of hate and taught others through your actions to do so as well. You tortured your fellow brethren for information they did not have all the while knowing that they did not have it. You fell into a deep and dark spiral that many could never reach, not even those you viewed as 'precious.'"

Jazz visibly flinched at the reminder of his deeds during the war. But if he hadn't done them, then someone else would have been forced to do it. It could have Bumblebee, or Bluestreak, or even _Optimus_ in his place. No, he might have lost his way as the war had continued to ravage on, but he didn't regret what he had done. Was he ashamed? Yes, especially when reminded of the times when it wasn't necessary yet his hatred towards the mechs who had started, and continued, this war ate at his spark and manifested into the twisted things he had done.

But he didn't regret keeping others from having to suffer from the impending guilt that would later weigh on his processor and very spark. To have to force the convincing fake smiles and amusing jokes around others when all he wanted to do was curl up in a corner and cry over what he had lost—what so many of them had lost.

No, he never regretted taking the gruesome parts of the war into his own servos. Someone had to it so that the others wouldn't suffer.

The entity (for Jazz had a pretty good idea of what this all-knowing presence was at this point; after all, he _was_ dead) continued to caress him, its field never fluctuating from its saddened parental feel. "All of what you have done to protect the others around. The actions you were forced to take pained you much, yet you continued. All to save others from having to experience it…how misguided my children have become."

The saboteur felt like curling up into a ball of guilt at the disappointment that now saturated the voice. Yet the disappointment did not last long before returning to the saddened tone. "The ways of the world are cruel, and I can only watch in grief and sorrow as my children turn away to follow them. Try as I might, it is only in the aftermath that they turn to me, only to scorn my name and blame me for their troubles."

Jazz swallowed as his earlier theories proved correct. He was standing before _Primus._ The one who had created them, who had gifted them the AllSpark, who the Primes were rumored to be directly descended from…frag he was so screwed. He'd done too much in his life to gain the favor of such a deity.

Amusement not his own washed over him before becoming serious. "Yet I find it interesting that not once have you done so. You have cursed many: Megatron, your commanding officer, your enemies. But not once have you taken my name in vain."

"Ah find it kinda hard ta believe dat you'd go through so much trouble makin' us to make us start killin' each other fo' ya enjoyment or something," Jazz said softly, the confidence that always surrounded him suddenly fleeing. Being addressed by Primus would do that to a mech. "Guess it just never felt right ta curse ya."

It was silent for a while, and Jazz would have imagined that the entity had left if it hadn't been for the constant assurance that he was in fact _there_ even if he couldn't online his optics to look without being blinded. He vaguely wondered if even Optimus would have that ability.

"You were not meant to die in Mission City," Primus suddenly said, and the saboteur felt his processor kick back into gear. "You were meant to live for many more days to come. Your sacrifice saved the lives of many who were meant to perish that day. There are not many even within my direct line of descendants who have accomplished that."

"Thank you?"

Warm laughter washed over him, and Jazz felt the first real smile in a long time spread across his faceplates. "You may accept the compliment without feeling intimidated. But I wish to give you an offer for your deed, though it is one that I do not make lightly. I will grant you those years that you have lost."

Jazz froze in complete surprise. "R-really?"

"Yes, but there is a catch."

"'Course there is. When aint there?"

More laughter could be heard. "I will grant you those years that you have given up, but you cannot return to your old life. The old Jazz is gone, and your friends and comrades will grieve for him. There must be a new Jazz, one who has been untouched by war and grief. One that can amend the past actions you have taken part in. You will live a full, new life with no memories of your old one. Will you accept my offer or continue to the Well of Sparks?"

Jazz floated in space, keening a little when the deity released him in order to mull over his decision. He felt so empty and cold now. He wanted to keep that feeling of someone there, someone who was capable of understanding him in the fullest.

But…he didn't want to be _dead. _There was so much he felt he hadn't accomplished. What those things were exactly he had absolutely no idea, but he could find out with his second chance at life.

Except…was it worth it? He wouldn't remember a thing about his past life. He would have never met Optimus or Prowl. Bumblebee or Ironhide. Ratchet, the Twins, _Bluestreak_—they and all of his memories of them would be gone. He would be alone; he didn't like to be alone.

Then again…if he didn't remember any of them, how was he supposed to know he was alone? He could forge new friendships with new people. Ones who he didn't have to constantly worry about whether they came back from patrol or not, or if they would walk back out of the battlefield once the fight was over. He could live without believing that he had to take the burden of dirty warfare on his shoulder in order keep his honorable leader as pure as possible so that others could look up to him and have something to fight for.

"Ah," Jazz started, all of a sudden encompassed by that might presence once more. He swallowed in an attempt to relieve his suddenly dry oral cavity. "Ah…Ah accept da deal. Ah wanna try again. But Ah gotta know if everyone's okay first. Ah know Ah'll just forget, but…"

"You were the only one of your team to fall," Primus answered knowingly, and Jazz nodded in relief. "Now, let us not waste any more time. You will be stripped of your memories upon arrival so that new ones might take their place, though there is some imbedded knowledge that will remain and become like instincts for you. Do not fret for you will still be 'Jazz.' Just a different one."

Jazz risked onlining his optics in the last few seconds he had before everything went dark. But he was thrilled to have seen that brilliant and loving smile on an otherwise indescribable deity. So worth the backlash pain the blinding light inspired.

**~:0:~**

His name was Jazz. Former enforcer of Cybertron's Security Force working directly under Prowl, who at some point became his closest friend. During the war he was First Lieutenant under Optimus Prime, the same rank as Prowl. When Praxus fell, he helped his friend care for the wounded and traumatized youngling who would later become the Autobots' most skilled sharpshooter and talkative mech in the army: Bluestreak. He pranked with the Twins, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker; he personally trained up Bumblebee and Mirage in the way of Special Ops along with other mechs, though his spark throbbed with untold pain to do so; Decepticons spoke his name with fear inspired awe. He fought against Megatron, former Lord High Protector of Cybertron who was corrupted by his obsession for power. He followed Optimus into the stars when Cybertron fell to…to…

His name was Jazz. Former enforcer of Cybertron's Security Force working directly under Prowl, who at some point became his closest friend. During the war he was First Lieutenant under Optimus Prime, the same rank as Prowl. When Praxus fell, he…he…

His name was Jazz. Former enforcer of Cybertron's Security Force working directly under…who again?

His name was Jazz.

His name was _Jazz_.

His name was…

His name…it was…

He was hungry. And cold. Why was the silence around him so loud? Why was he lying on something so hard? Why…why was he alone? He needed someone to be there! Someone to hold him, and keep him warm, and put food in his belly. He opened his mouth and wailed out for someone, anyone, to come and get him. He didn't want to be alone anymore.

His name…

He didn't have a name.

**~:0:~**

Lorraine shuffled past the wide area of construction taking place, sparring only a short glance in the direction of downtown. Or what _had_ been downtown. Last time she had gotten a good look at it, there was barely anything left. Businesses that had been running ever since she had moved to Mission City nearly five years were completely destroyed now. Vehicles had still littered the streets, either on fire, crushed, or just completely in pieces. There were still papers fluttering along the walls she walked past, showing pictures of the ones who still remained missing and the families who just desperately wanted answers.

It made her want to cry. So many people still appeared to be missing. Men and women; old and young; mothers and fathers; sons and daughters. Lorraine could only be grateful that the only thing she had lost was her job. There had been a moment in all of the confusion—the explosions and gun shots—that she had thought she was going to die.

One of those monstrous…_things _had reached out to kill her and the people around her when suddenly it had howled in rage and taken off. The poor woman could only watch in horror as it landed on a nearby building and a smaller silver figure had scrambled along the bigger one's torso, shooting at the face and dealing minimum damage before he had been peeled off and cruelly torn in half. She still shook now, weeks after the incident, as she remembered the upper part of her savior's body landing near her and watched without being able to do anything as his eyes had dulled and death took him.

All of it had been an overwhelming experience. Lorraine remembered returning to her apartment that night and weeping in remembrance of her nameless savior and all the people she had helplessly watched die that day. The next morning, she hadn't been able to watch the news stations weave a web of horrible lies for what had happened in Mission City yet at the same time she was happy that those ignorant people would _never_ know what she did now.

She had not been able to dwell on it for long though. Reality kicked in the next morning when she stepped off the bus a few blocks from her job because the area had been roped off for construction. The little, but profitable, bakery she had worked in resided in the very middle of the destruction, and after calling the couple who owned it with worry she had learned that they had been one of the many to be hit the hardest, though she was pleased to hear that neither had been hurt.

A week later and Lorraine was still desperately looking for work. It was hard with the other people who were also doing the same, and it doubled thanks to her age. Most of the places that were looking for employees preferred a young face over one that was twice their age. She _had_ been called back for a secretarial position, so that was a blessing in itself. All she had to do was go to the interview that had been scheduled for tomorrow and dazzle who would, hopefully, become her employer.

Lorraine now sat on the bench with a sigh and waited for the bus to make its rounds. It was times like these she wished she had a car, but she knew it would be more of a hassle than the bus. Besides, she had been doing this for twenty years now after her first (and only) car had broken down. Bus fare was far cheaper than replacing an old, worn out engine, and no one bothered an old lady with pepper spray. Especially after watching her spray a good number of shameful hooligans who attempted to take her purse.

The memory of the last teenager she had blinded was suddenly broken by a plaintive cry that cut through the silence she waited in. Lorraine twisted around and searched for perhaps a mother on an evening stroll with her child but found nothing. The crying increased in volume, and she began to worry when she found no one in sight. Where was that crying coming from?

She checked her watch and stood when she found she had ten minutes until the next bus arrived. That would be plenty of time to find the source of the crying and return to her spot on the bench. The woman hurried along the street and followed the cries, reversing once when she realized that she had passed the source.

Stopping at the opening of an alley, Lorraine squinted into the shadows. The cries continued, falling into whimpers before picking up again in intensity. She cautiously stepped into the dark alley, grasping her can of pepper spray in case anyone tried to jump out at her. The cries seemed to be coming from behind the dumpster she saw, and she sidled up to it, almost dropping her pepper spray at the sight she found.

A little baby had been abandoned like common trash, placed inside a cardboard box with other miscellaneous items. He was wrapped up in a light blue blanket so that only his dark face could be seen, though his little limbs flailed about beneath the blanket. Lorraine didn't hesitate to put away her only weapon and pick up the weeping child, cradling him in the elbow of her arm and rocking gently. "Shh, shh lil' one. It's all gonna be alright. I gotcha now."

A tiny brown fist broke free of its prison and waved around in the air with a loud cry. Lorraine reached down to gently grasp the flailing hand, which seemed to finally grab his attention. She gasped at the beautiful, sapphire eyes made brighter by the tears that surrounded them looked up at her and whimpered. She had expected the darker eyes that usually went along with his skin tone, which matched her own, but blue? She had _never_ seen blue eyes so bright and stunning on anyone.

The baby whimpered again, and the woman snapped out of her awe and bundled him close before leaving the alley and returning to the bus stop just in time to hop on the bus. The other passengers ignored her as she grabbed the first empty seat she came across, and she ignored them as well as she maneuvered the bundle around in her arms.

The babe looked up at her with wide eyes still full of tears, and she gently rubbed the course hair that already sprouted from his head. "Don't worry lil' one. I'm not about to throw ya out like you've already been. You're comin' home with me; how's that sound?" Lorraine glanced down at the fine blanket wrapped around him and saw a name embroidered on the corner of the blanket. "Jaden? Is that you're name sweetie? I'm gonna take good care o' you Jaden."

Jaden closed his eyes and relaxed into the arms that held him. He was safe and warm now, and his hunger didn't look to be lasting for much longer. Now he could sleep.

And dream of a past life that would never be more than a fantasy to him.

* * *

**AN: **There we go :) This came out very well in my opinion even if I don't have a clear plan yet. Also, this story is most likely going to have _way_ shorter chapters than my others, maybe even drabble length, and the rate at which it will be updated will possibly be a lot longer. I'm really just working on it until I can get through the rut I have found myself in with my other story (as I mentioned in the first AN). I will say that the potential of this turning JazzxOC is very high though it will come later because baby-Jazz has to grow up ;)

Leave me you thoughts, critiques, or complaints :D


	2. Music Man

Rebirth

Chapter One

Music Man

* * *

If Lorraine had known how much of a handful Jaden would be…she still would have gone through the painstaking process of legally adopting him. Try as she might, she could never find his biological parents. Perhaps they had perished in the confusion of Mission City; maybe they had simply abandoned him. Whatever it was, no missing children of Jaden's description were ever reported in the month following his discovery. No one ever stepped up to claim him either when the local news station aired his photo one night on the six o'clock news.

After that month had passed, an old friend of Lorraine's who worked in child services helped her through the confusing and time consuming process of making Jaden her official, by-law child. She had got a birth certificate created and dated for the day she had found him; other legal documents that proved his existence; and all of his new documentation had her name in the space for legal guardian, which made her the happiest she had been in years.

Jaden was a handful, especially for a widowed woman creeping "over the hill" in age. There were times where he would just lay on his back and stare at the ceiling, chewing on a frozen teether to help soothe the ache and irritation that accompanied the three teeth beginning to poke through his gums. Then there were times—the times that occurred most often—that he refused to stay still.

Once he had found himself in a secure place, Jaden dedicated the majority of his time those first three months with her learning how to roll over, then sit up, and finally begin his experience as a crawler. At first, Lorraine had been delighted at his advanced development as her only child (now fully grown and father to his own family) hadn't started crawling until closer to his first birthday while the doctor she had taken Jaden to had estimated his age to be around three months, making him a crawler almost six months earlier than her son.

After the first day, she was wishing it had taken Jaden longer to learn.

Dear Lord, how had she forgotten the power of a child's curiosity? Jaden got into _everything_. She had had a panic attack the day she had walked into the kitchen to find him gumming on a sponge she had stored under the kitchen sink, detergent bottle and other cleaners scattered on the floor around him. Ten minutes later, she and Jaden had been boarding the next bus to the nearest store to purchase child safety locks for every cabinet in the house.

But she had to admit that the crawling wasn't _always_ bad. Like right now she was crawling along the floor, ignoring the pain it induced in her knees and back as a grin adorned her face. "Jaden? I'm gonna get you. You can't hide from…me!"

She jumped around the corner of the couch and was only mildly disappointed to find the space behind it empty. She sat up on her knees and huffed playfully. "Now where have you gone off to, child? My bones are too old for crawlin' all over the apartment!"

A giggle drew Lorraine's attention to her open bedroom door down the hallway from the living room. She painfully stood up from the floor, pausing to rub her lower back, and shuffled down the hall to the bedroom "I'm comin' ta get you!"

More giggles were the only response she got as she entered the room and walked around the bed, absently touching the little monkey that hung from the bars of Jaden's crib. Jaden sat on the other side of the bed on the floor, waving around a big black record with one hand while the other patted the cover that he had placed on the floor. Instead of being angered with finding the baby waving around her vinyl, Lorraine could only smile and stayed as quiet as she could to observe.

Jaden clumsily jerked the record around, making nonsense noises as it clanked softly against the carpeted floor. He gurgled happily and slobber ran undeterred down his little chin to coat the front of his white onesie. His mouth had been working overtime to produce the drool ever since his second tooth had started poking through, but try as she might he absolutely refused to keep a bib on. Now it looked like she would be searching for yet another bib he had disposed of and hid while her back was turned.

Bright blue eyes caught her brown ones, and Jaden squealed in absolute joy at finally being found. "Mahmahmahmah," he rapidly babbled, wildly swinging his arms around and narrowly scooting across the floor on his padded behind.

"Why am I not surprised to find you here?" Lorraine said with a smile as she stooped down to take the child in her arms. She gently grabbed the vinyl record he brought up with him before he could smack her in the face with it and turned it around to see the label. "Who is it today? Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World'?"

Jaden patted her cheek and stuck his other fist into his mouth, mumbling past it as his head wobbled back and forth almost like a bobblehead's. She smiled and took a step forward to place the vinyl on the old record player she kept on the dresser. The player and records were some of the few things she had left of her late husband. He had loved to collect the old vinyl, and it had been a long running joke during their marriage that he'd bankrupt them trying to get a certain album on eBay. He had everything from Black Sabbath, to the Beatles, to (her personal favorites) Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

As the record began to play, Lorraine turned to the bed and began to arrange the pillows along one edge of the bed so that she could lie on the other side and effectively trap Jaden between her and the wall of pillows. Not that he would try to escape. No, he loved to listen to the music the records played. He had been effectively transfixed by it the first night she had turned it on, since she had made it a habit to listen to one album before retiring each night. When he began to finally crawl around the house, he had made a beeline for the shelf of albums she kept in her room, taking them out of their protective covers and waving them at the dresser as if the record player would magically reach down and take it from him.

Lorraine had found it adorable and began to play the music for his naps during the day and had even told his usual babysitter it was the only effective way to keep him out of trouble. Like right now he absently chewed on his fist and stared with absolute contentment at the record player up on the dresser as Louis' voice filled the room. She rubbed his belly, not minding the sticky, cold spittle that met her hand. "You like his music, don't you? That's the third time this week you chose that album. You gonna grow up to be a proper jazz man."

For a moment, Jaden turned to look at her with sober recognition before grinning around his fingers, emitting a happy gurgle and lazily kicking the empty air above him. Lorraine smiled down at him and kissed his chubby cheek as he let loose a lazy yawn. "I'm more of a jazz woman myself. Robert would never commit to just one favorite though. He always said 'Why choose one when I can enjoy them all?' I always replied that it was just another excuse for him to buy another album."

The woman smiled as her adopted son's eyes began to droop as she spoke, long, downy eyelashes flickering against his cheeks as he fought and lost the battle against sleep. When he had finally fallen into a deep sleep, the only movement from him being the rise and fall of his chest with each breathe he took, Lorraine moved to cushion her head against one arm while the other hand rested on the infant's chest, her own eyes drooping as the song began to end.

"_Yes, I think to myself,  
What a wonderful world."_

No. No matter how much of a little troublemaker he was, and going to be as he grew older, Lorraine would never regret being the one to find Jaden.

* * *

**AN: **Wow, now I know why some people prefer writing shorter chapters. They come together so much quicker ;P I've already got _another_ chapter written that I might post tomorrow after my classes if all goes well, and more are still to come because I'm just brimming with ideas at the moment :)


	3. Remembrance

**AN:** Not a cutesy baby Jazz/Jaden chapter today :( Since the Autobots won't be coming into Jaden's life until he's a lot older, I figured I'd write this for them. It takes place a month or so after the last chapter, which makes it about four months after the events of Mission City, and I know a lot of people get bent out of shape that they would just dump Jazz's body into the ocean. Well, I don't know exactly what they do in the movie comics other than what I read on the wiki (which is always dry compared to the actual thing), but I don't think it would be as simple as that.

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Two

Remembrance

* * *

Although he did not voice it like Ratchet or Ironhide, Optimus was not altogether content with the choices he was forced to make. He supposed he should be grateful that he had at least convinced the human government not to bury their fallen comrade with Decepticons, and he _was _grateful for the human, Captain Lennox, stepping up and appealing to his leaders that Jazz deserved a proper burial for his sacrifice. If it had not been for him, Optimus was sure that they would have thrown Jazz's body out like common trash, just as they had done with the Decepticons.

Just the thought of the human government made the Prime want to sigh. He was_ not_ looking forward to the politics that would commence in the near future, and he wouldn't even be speaking to half of the government! With the way their political system worked, some of the officials may not even be in office for much longer. Optimus liked the idea of the general public have that type of power, but really it was just a hassle, and he did not look forward to whoever may take John Keller's position as an "election year" began for the human office of "president." John had already warned him that there was a very high chance that another Secretary of Defense would be appointed under the new president.

He had thought about putting Ratchet in the arena of politics as a stand in for him since his CMO had actually enjoyed being his liaison before the war had commenced (not that he had enjoyed the High Council of Ancients very much...), but a side effect of that very same war had given his old friend a shorter fuse, and the last thing he wanted was to "accidentally" offend a human with the power to send them straight back into space. They could not afford to leave the humans without protection when more Decepticons were surely traveling towards this planet due to the short length of time their leader had been alive and broadcasting a signal for all to hear.

Optimus would never admit this out loud (though Ironhide or Ratchet might have picked up on it due to the long time they had been together), but he was actually…_happy_ that Barricade had managed to escape after Mission City. It gave the Autobots a solid excuse to remain on the planet and to call more of their comrades to the planet. Hopefully by the time more Autobots landed, they would have established solid relations with the human race like what had already begun to develop between them and Lennox's men, and while he did not expect all to accept them, he at least hoped that they would be able to create a home here.

This little planet was perhaps their last hope. There were much fewer options left out in the stars and without the AllSpark to resurrect their home world…

He couldn't even complete the thought; it pained him far too much. His desperate move to ensure the Cube would never fall into his brother's hands had effectively doomed them all. True, he had been willing to sacrifice himself and the Cube to prevent Megatron from gaining it, but watching Sam shove their only hope of reviving Cybertron into his brother's spark had inspired a melancholy of emotions within him. And to discover after all of that that they had lost a very loved comrade without him even noticing…

Ratchet had wanted to attempt using the last remaining fragment of the AllSpark to attempt to resurrect Jazz after welding the saboteur back together, but Optimus…Optimus had had the overwhelming conviction to _not _use it. Both Ratchet and Ironhide had, of course, pitched a fit and he could remember watching Bumblebee deflate from the makeshift medical berth the CMO had created and confined the scout to until proper repairs on his stabilizing servos were complete. But Optimus could not be swayed by their arguments and ultimately entrusted the shard to the humans in order to prevent his irate officers from choosing to use it against his orders. Normally he would not have worried about such a thing happening, but their loss had hit them all hard.

Optimus hadn't realized how far his processor had wandered until he felt a pat on the door of his cab and picked up the presence of Captain William Lennox standing beside him. "You in there, Prime?" Optimus reeved his engine as a replacement for his inability to speak to the human while in his alt-mode. "Good. I was just saying that we're here and you guys can go up top now."

Behind him he could hear Ironhide impatiently reeving his own engine and over the comm. link Ratchet began to curse the Weapons Specialist for having the audacity to nudge against the bumper of his alt-mode. Optimus decided that if he didn't move now, then they might have to send two bodies into the Laurentian Abyss thanks to Ironhide's impatience and Ratchet's anger.

Bumblebee followed him up the ramp silently and transformed to stand beside him once he could. His mute scout (for his vocal processors chose certain moments to actually work) stared solemnly at the container being hooked up to the aircraft carrier's crane. Optimus believed that even if Bumblebee could properly speak at the moment, he wouldn't.

Optimus nodded to Ratchet and Ironhide when they had transformed, the former looking at the latter in a huff, and proceeded over to the container, minding where he stepped as human soldiers stood off to the side. The other Autobots followed to form a half circle around what would be Jazz's tomb and stared somberly. Optimus reached to trace one of the glyphs Ironhide had carved into the container, a prayer honoring the fallen warrior.

"Jazz was a highly respected Autobot officer," the Prime began his practiced speech. He had feared that without practice when the time came to give his final goodbyes, he wouldn't be able to get a word out. No matter how many lives had been lost during their war, this part never got any easier. "I cannot even begin to recount the many things he did during his life."

"Well for one he managed to avoid the Hatchet's wrenches. That's not something that many mechs can brag about."

Optimus couldn't help the smile that flitted across his lipplates as Ratchet broke his contemplative stance to casually slap Ironhide across the back of the helm. Many of the humans watching looked both surprised and confused by the actions, but he understood his officers' attempts to break the pained mood that had fallen on them. Jazz had always been the one to force smiles onto their faces, least the burden of war hardened their sparks to the point of not feeling.

It was one of the many regrets Optimus held for his friend: his inability to do the same.

"Yes, he had the extraordinary ability to avoid our medic's wrenches." Ratchet huffed in mock offense as some of the humans cautiously chuckled. Optimus placed his hand on the top of the container. "But he was more than just officer. Jazz was a beloved member of our family forged through the trepidation of war—our brother-in-arms. He saved countless lives through his actions on the battlefield and perhaps even more off of it."

Bumblebee, who stood at his left, emitted a pained static-filled sound. It was the closest sound their kind could make that resembled a sob. The loss of Jazz hit them all hard but it probably affected Bumblebee the most. He was no stranger to death, having been sparked right on the eve of war, but Jazz had been one of the most prominent teachers to him right alongside Optimus and Ironhide. Seeing the younger mech's reaction made his spark shrivel at the thought of telling Bluestreak when (and if) the sharpshooter landed on Earth.

The leader moved his hand from coffin to the scout's shoulder and squeezed in silent support. "Many will grieve the loss, but Jazz will always be remembered."

His mind drew a blank after that as what he had feared would happen came to pass. Fortunately, no one seemed to notice as they easily stepped up to say their own personal goodbyes. Ironhide recited an ancient prayer as was his custom for every fallen Autobot with a personal addendum to the end just for Jazz; Ratchet tried to jokingly congratulate Jazz for making it through life without being reconfigured into a blender, but his overly bright optics gave away his grief; and Bumblebee began to play an old Cybertronian melody that Jazz had always been fond of through his radio.

Optimus eventually gave Lennox a signal, and the four Autobots stood on the edge of the carrier to watch the crane place the coffin into the dazzling waters below. It wasn't a proper burial for a fallen brother but given the circumstances it was the only thing they could do to honor him. There was far too great of a risk of the humans exhuming the body later without their knowledge and picking Jazz's body apart to create a weapon of mass destruction.

None of them could stand the thought of that happening.

Optimus hardly noticed the humans behind him completing their own traditional send off, but he did notice when William came to stand beside his pede. He looked down to see the man respectfully bowing his head as the water began to still. "Thank you."

"It's the least we can do," Will answered humbly. "We didn't know him for long, but he saved some of my men during the battle. Not honoring him would be inexcusable."

Optimus nodded graciously and looked out into the seemingly endless stretch of water. He could only hope that this planet, rich with distinctive life, would yield more men and women like Captain William Lennox and his team.

**~:0:~**

A week passed, filled with constant back and forth between the Autobots, military, and human government as the Autobots began to establish a base, before Ratchet forced the Prime to take a break and take a well needed recharge. Now, Cybertronians did not dream. They experienced memory sequences, where random memories would play throughout the duration of their recharge. Sometimes they were pleasant; sometimes they were not; and sometimes the sequences never even occurred.

This was not what Optimus experienced.

He would compare it to watching one of the holo-vids he would watch in his youth. The images seemed disconnected at first before he realized that there was one thing each one had in common. A little human boy, dark of skin that contrasted strongly with his bright blue eyes and a smile that attracted the attention of everyone near him, took a prominent place in each one. He started small, learning how to walk with the help of a woman (his guardian perhaps?) and playing with other children his age, and gradually advanced in age: from a toddler, to a teenager, to a young adult, and middle age.

There were happy moments like a giggling baby flinging baby food around, a pair of ecstatic teenagers in black gowns and carelessly waving around sheets of paper to anyone who would acknowledge them, or a meaningful kiss shared between lovers. Then there were the hard times—the young adult crying over an old record player; a pre-teen sitting in an office with a bloody lip and scowling at a man sitting behind a big desk; and a teenager leaning against the rail of a bridge in the dead of night with an utterly lost look in his eyes.

But the one thing in the human's appearance that remained the same as he grew before Optimus' very optics was what struck him most. The twinkle of those blue eyes that remained as he laughed and cried, hollered and raged, plotted and faked innocence. He exhibited every range of emotion possible, hid his eyes behind various pairs of sunglasses, and yet that twinkle of individuality never dimmed or vanished.

Optimus would never remember the details of the strange "dream" he had been gifted. But he did online the next cycle with a feeling of absolute peace that he hadn't experienced since the war began.

* * *

**AN:** There we go. I've decided that since most of these chapters seem to be coming out at around 2000 words each, that I'll just update whenever I get them done. They're a piece of cake to write and edit compared to how I'm used to writing chapter over 10000 words :)


	4. Ducky and V-day Special

**AN: **And we're back to the cutesy with a little added bonus because it's Valentine's Day ;D

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Three

Ducky

* * *

Jaden was a very particular child by the time his first birthday rolled around. He would only drink his formula and juice from the sippy cup with the yellow top; his babysitter could never get him to take a nap until it was _exactly_ one o'clock and even then she had to play whichever record he picked out and he _had_ to have his favorite blue monkey and blankie; when he began to eat baby food, he refused to eat anything that wasn't orange; and the list went on and on.

One of the things he happened to be particularly picky about happened to involve a rubber ducky.

Jaden absolutely _loved_ his rubber ducky. It was a cheap thing that Lorraine had found at a thrift store while shopping for baby clothes. But her baby boy had been ecstatic the first time he had seen it. It wasn't a normal looking yellow duck. It had been molded into a different shape to resemble a police officer, and its uniform was painted black and white with brightly painted blue eyes and a yellow badge.

The young toddler had gaped at it when she first presented it to him during his bath time that night before snatching it from her hand and splashing it against the water, all the while repeating, "Pow! Powpowpowpowpow!"

At first Lorraine had thought he was just making sound effects for the ducky hitting the water, but when bath time had ended and she had him wrapped in a fluffy beige towel, Jaden had desperately reached for the toy left behind and cried, "Pow!"

Lorraine had had a hard time convincing him to leave the toy for next bath time. Ever since then, Jaden refused to take a bath unless his "Pow" was there to take it with him. Unfortunately, the babysitter, Samantha who was a part-time college student going for a degree in childcare, didn't know about Pow. She hadn't had to give Jaden a bath before, but today just happened to be the day that he had changed his mind about his favorite food being orange.

Samantha couldn't help but roll her eyes as the food covered baby giggled with an innocence that _really_ didn't befit him at the moment. "You think you're so cute," Samantha said as she wiggled him out of his sticky and stained clothes until he was left in only his diaper. She reached over to turn on the water for the bath, and Jaden eagerly watched over the rim of the tub as the bubbles from his favorite bubble bath began to spawn.

The babysitter shook her head as he began to make a "bubbub" like sound by pressing his mouth against the porcelain of the tub. "You're cuteness doesn't make me forget that big mess still in the kitchen mister."

Jaden grinned at her, all five teeth shining up at her as he reached down to pull off his diaper. He knew what bubble bath and water meant and diapers weren't part of the equation. But…wait a minute. There was his purple boat and his little bath people. Where was his Pow?

"Alright little man," Samantha said, picking him up under his arms to put him in the water. She didn't expect him to throw his legs up and cling to her waist. "Whoa! You scared of the water or something? That doesn't seem like you Jadey-poo."

"Pow!" Jaden cried as she tried to lower him into the water. He keened and raised himself so that the fluffy bubbles wouldn't touch his little behind. Samantha couldn't help but laugh at the funny picture it would have made. "Wan' Pow!"

"We'll find your 'Pow' after you take a bath," the young adult bargained as she tried to get Jaden's stubborn fingers to let go of her shirt. "Right now we need to get you cleaned up."

Now, Jaden really did like Sammy. She was fun and nice like mommy was, but Sammy just didn't _get_ things like mommy did. Mommy wouldn't have even started the water before giving him his Pow, which she always kept on the sink somewhere because of the many times he had tried to sneak in and take it from the tub. Sammy didn't even know what his Pow was, so it was up to him to get it.

How was he supposed to do that when she was insistent on putting him in the tub?

"Peepee!" Jaden suddenly shrieked and let go long enough to point to his training potty that sat next to the big people potty. "Peepee!"

Samantha's phone suddenly started playing from where she had left it in the kitchen, and the babysitter was suddenly torn. She either ignored it to bathe Jaden or she let him loose where he could run around naked and hide in his many secret hiding places (plus he apparently had to pee, which did not bode well for a one year old just starting out on a training potty). However, the thing that made her pause was that she was expecting a very important phone call about an opening at a prominent childcare facility. Normally Jaden would be babbling at his lunch as he stubbornly attempted to feed himself in his highchair, leaving her free to have answered the call.

So she made a quick decision as her musical ringtone started over and opened the top of his potty with her foot and plopped him down on it. "You stay _right here_ and peepee. Sammy will be back in a minute."

Jaden watched her leave and smiled at his quick thinking. Mommy called him a "smarty-tarty" for a reason! Now where was his Pow?

The toddler wiggled off of his potty to stand on slightly unsteady legs. He was just starting to get used to walking around since up until recently he had been utterly content with crawling around. There were way more accessible hiding places when he crawled.

He looked up at the sink and then at the two potties. He knew _exactly_ how he was going to get his Pow.

**~:0:~**

"Thank you so much," Samantha said into the phone as she attempted to control her euphoria. "Yes, of course! I'll come in tomorrow and we can talk more. Okay, and thank you again. Goodbye." She flipped the phone close and let out the squeal of joy she had been holding in.

She had been waiting for over a year for this position ever since her application had been looked over the first time. Now she had more experience and a few recommendations from her professors. Oh, she couldn't wait to tell Ms. Lori when she came home; the woman had been a big support over the year she had watched—

Samantha gasped and shot up from the kitchen chair she had sat. "Jaden!"

Crap. Crap, crap, crap, _crap!_ That was the last thing Samantha needed before being fully hired: the child she was watching to drown in the bathtub because she was stupid enough to leave him alone with a tub of water! She was a horrible babysitter; she didn't deserve that position if she endangered the health of the child she was watching just to answer the phone, no matter how important that call had been. She was a horrible person…

Samantha blinked as a giggling brown streak ran past the kitchen. She stepped out of the kitchen just in time to see a little naked buttocks vanish behind the couch. "Jaden Robinson! You get your naked little behind back to that bathroom."

Jaden laughed hysterically when Sammy leaned over the top of the couch to look down at him. He held up his rubber ducky and squeezed it, making it emit a squeaky sound. "Pow!"

"Yes, I see you have your Pow. Now you need to get cleaned up."

Jaden easily submitted to being pulled out and squeezed his rubber ducky all the way back to the bathroom. _Now_ he could take his bath without a fuss because he had his Pow.

* * *

"Special" I

First Valentines Day

Jaden liked today. Why? Because for some reason mommy had brought a lot of things that floated up in the air by a string and good smelling things that were the color of his favorite teether. It was fun to sit below the floaty things and pull on the string just for them to pop back up. He had spent good deal of time just giggling at those. The smelly things didn't taste as good as they smelled, so he had tossed them aside earlier in favor of continuing to giggle at the floaty things.

Then he noticed the last bag that had been haphazardly thrown onto the couch when his mommy had gotten home. Cooing with curiosity, he abandoned the strings and hurriedly crawled over to the bag. He always found good things in bags like toys, and teethers, and more toys, and appley juice, and hats he could put on his head…and even more toys. He gasped in his baby way as he pulled out an oddly shaped box.

Jaden clicked his tongue like Sammy had taught him and beat the box against the floor. It had to open _somehow…_success! The top flew off to land a few inches away, and he tilted his head at the oddly shaped and colored things that were in the box. They weren't very bright and eye-catching, and they weren't fluffy and cuddle worthy. They were small; they were the color of his hand.

…and they must have been _very_ important because they were in a _box. _Mommy kept her pretty things in a box on top of their clothes box (which were also important), and his favorite records were kept in a sort of box that didn't have a side to it. So what was he going to do with them?

Jaden did what any nine month old would do with the discovery of something new: he popped one into his mouth and started to chew on it. The brown thing filled his mouth to the point where his gag reflex kicked in and he had to spit it back up in a wet, nasty glob. Jaden wiped at his watery eyes and reached back for the brown glob. It tasted _way_ better than the smelly things, and he liked it!

He'd just have to eat a little at time, which for an impatient child like him seemed to take _forever _to get through the first one. But he still had a whole box and even _more_ boxes to go through after that.

**~:0:~**

"Thank you for staying late to help me Samantha," Lorraine said as she licked the pink icing off her finger while placing the piping bag to the side. "You're cookies look twice as good as mine."

Samantha blushed a little at the praise as she finished writing "Happy V-day!" on her last heart shaped cookie. "It's no big Ms. Lori. I'd rather stay and decorate cookies for Jadey-poo's first Valentine's Day than go back to a dorm room and listen to my roommate have—uh—'happy time' with her boyfriend."

Lorraine smiled indulgently at the young college student while placing a special cookie off to the side just for Jaden. "Me, my husband, and my first son, Bobby, used to do this ev'ry Valentine's day. It's been years since I've had the time to actually bake _anything._ I forgot how much I enjoyed it."

"I used to bake for my little brother and sister, but after moving out here and starting college I'm lucky enough to be able to _sleep_ let alone bake or cook anything that doesn't come out from a plastic bag already prepared and frozen."

"Dear Lord, I do _not _miss college." Samantha laughed at the older woman's dramatics, and Lorraine used a dishcloth to clean up their mess. "I'll go wake Jaden up from his nap now. He'll be surprised to see me home so early."

Samantha stayed in the kitchen to clean up while Lorraine sneaked down the hallway to her room. Rarely was she able to come home so early, and she wouldn't have been able to do so if she hadn't convinced a co-worker to take her shift with the promise of doing the same at a later date. She had wanted to do something special for all of Jaden's first holidays, even ones she wasn't technically off for.

She hadn't even taken a step into the room before she knew something was wrong. For one, Jaden's monkey (Mr. Nannas as they called him) was lying right at the threshold of her bedroom. There was no way Jaden would have settled down for his nap without Mr. Nannas. Lorraine pushed the cracked door open and stared at the empty crib.

Dear Lord up in heaven…Jaden had finally learned how to escape his crib. She was going to have to invest in a little bell to hang around that child's neck, wasn't she? Or some kind of tracker that she could sew into his clothes. What was she going to do when he finally reached the stage where he could walk when he was already such a handful?

"Samantha!" Lorraine called while crouching down to look under the bed in a hope that Jaden hadn't wandered off too far. "Are you sure you put him in the crib? You didn't put him on the bed, did you?"

"Um," she could vaguely hear the younger woman say from the kitchen. "Ms. Lori? I think Jaden might have already had his own Valentine's Day."

Lorraine hurried back to that side of the apartment and stood beside Samantha, who was trying not to laugh at the mess she had found in the living room. The mother simply sighed at the half chewed chocolate, handprints, and half empty chocolate boxes scattered across the floor. Some of the roses she had bought on a whim even looked to be half eaten. "That boy…where is he?"

"I didn't see him when I came in here," Samantha answered, looking around before pointing at the trail of chocolate leading out into the hallway. "I'm willing to bet that you'll find the little troublemaker at the end of that trail."

Lorraine took lead and led them to the hallway closet, one of Jaden's most used (and easiest to find) hiding places. The door was cracked open and giggles came from it as she opened the door. Jaden looked up at her with a wide smile accented by the dark ring of chocolate that surrounded his mouth. Nearly every visible part of him had some amount of chocolate on it—arms, chest, diaper, feet, head. Clenched in one fist was a squished and sticky piece of chocolate; the other hand held the string of a heart shaped balloon he had dragged into the closet with him.

Samantha burst into a fit of uncontrollable giggles at the sight while Lorraine tried her hardest to look stern. The sweet smile he gave her made it difficult. "Look at the mess you've made! Just about everything from here to the livin' room is covered with chocolate."

Jaden's smile slipped a little when he realized his mommy was mad at him. But he was just trying to see what mommy had brought home and some of it tasted really good. He uncurled his fist to look at the glob that rested in it before lifting it up for her to have. He would share with his mommy because he liked her the most! Sammy would just have to get one of the chocolates he left behind in the living room.

The offering managed to wipe the forced stern expression from her face, and she bent down to kiss his forehead, the only spot clean of chocolate. "Happy Valentine's Day baby. Now let's get you cleaned up 'fore we have to replace all the carpet in the apartment."

Jaden squealed a goodbye to Sammy as his mommy carried him to the bathroom, dragging his fun floaty thing along with him. He grimaced a little as he bounced along in his mommy's arms. Oh, his tummy didn't feel so good now...

* * *

**AN: **I think I snickered the whole way through this. Pow the Rubber Ducky...yes, that is an allusion to a certain Autobot ;) Hope you enjoyed the extra V-day gift! It's the first thing I've ever written for an actual holiday occasion.


	5. Night Terror

**AN: **Ngh, I feel like I'm being bipolar with this fic right now :/ I started off with the drama/angst, then I wrote something cutesy and you just get the urge to strangle Jadey-poo (I like that nickname :3) with love, then I wrote a depressing funeral scene, then flipflopped back to cutesy with Valentine's Day goodness...and then I go and do this! Yes, this has been an extremely bipolar fic so far.

**Warnings: **death; allusion to torture; dirty 'Cons and the beginnings of a maniacal Jazz D:

Time Units  
Vorn: 83 years  
Joor: 6 hours  
Solar Cycle (or "Cycle" for short): ~1 day

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Four

Night Terror

* * *

_He couldn't move. He could only watch and listen as his companion was ripped apart by the helicopter Combaticon. Vortex looked over at him with a glint in his optic band that hinted at the demented smile hidden beneath his battle mask. He tried to remain as expressionless as possible, but it was hard to do so when one of his few double agent's insides were now being ripped out._

_The cries slowly diminished to whimpers and keens of pain until Vortex had finally had enough and fired a round into the visible spark casing. He watched as Nightcrawler's red optics dimmed and his body twitched one last time before falling completely limp. _

_He had almost had the mech out! When Nightcrawler had contacted him to tell him that he had been compromised, he had immediately set out to pull his mech safely out of the Decepticon base without bothering to pause and gain permission from Optimus or Prowl. Unfortunately, he hadn't been quick enough. Nightcrawler had already been in terrible condition, thanks to Vortex's brutal interrogation style, and he had messed up badly by allowing the interrogator's fellow gestalt mates to capture him. _

"_Aw, what's the matter Autobot?" Vortex nearly purred as he strutted over to where he sat immobile in the interrogation chair, arms forced behind him and cuffed with stasis cuffs. He stifled a gasp of pain as the Decepticon casually patted his already dislocated shoulder. "The _fun's_ just starting." _

_A sense of pride passed over him as he refused to scream as Vortex began his interrogation. _

_**~:0:~**_

_Now he was looking down at the shattered red optic band that had so cruelly mocked him that long vorn ago. A sick sense of satisfaction flowed through him as those unprotected optics stared up at him with a fear uncharacteristic for the mech. Vortex cried in pain as he brought down a heavy pede to break off the Decepticon's last propeller blade._

_Deep down, he knew he shouldn't have felt so accomplished by his actions, that he shouldn't have purposely singled out the interrogator while in the heat of battle. But he had, and now they were cut off from the rest of the fight. Completely alone. It was just as he wanted it to be. _

"_Aw, what's da matta' my mech?" his accented voice asked in a syrupy tone as he bent down closer to the fearful face. "Ah just wanna _talk."

"_Please," the plea slipped through numbed lips as fear flashed in Vortex's optics. He smirked. The power to invoke such a radical change in behavior was a very bewitching form of control. "D-don't!"_

"_Is that how Nightcrawler sounded?" he snarled, dropping the sickly sweet tone of his voice. "Did he beg you to stop? Were you moved by his pleas and screams of pain? No, you enjoyed it, didn't you? How long did you 'interrogate' him? A joor? A cycle? _This_ is me bein' merciful."_

_Red optics glowed white with intense pain as he thrust his blade into the chest of the mech. He felt a twinge of disgust as Energon splashed up onto him, but his smugness at watching those optics dim into black never wavered. It simply grew as he knew that four more mechs on the battlefield were falling at that very moment for apparently no reason. The Autobots had just gained a slight advantage with the eradication of Bruticus._

_And it was all thanks to him. _

_He turned away from the cooling, brutally mangled frame and froze when he saw a mech staring back at him. He was silver and black; short in stature; covered in flecks of congealing Energon; and looking back at him with slightly crazed blue optics that slowly bleed into horrified remorse. _

_What type of mech had he become to not even be able to recognize himself anymore?_

**~:0:~**

Lorraine sluggishly awakened as a whimper reached her. That whimper transformed into a cry, and she felt someone latch onto the front of her nightgown and sob into her. Without any sort of pause, the woman hugged the one year old to her and rubbed his back in comfort as she shushed him.

Jaden was supposed to be in his crib, the place she had put him for the night. But he always found a way to jimmy the side down and climb out in order to climb into her bed and snuggle. Lorraine didn't want him to develop a habit of wanting to always sleep with her, but how was she supposed to say no when he woke up crying like he was now?

It had been a month since this started, and it worried her deeply when nights like these occurred. A child barely fifteen months shouldn't be having the type of nightmares he had managed to describe to her with his limited language. He had actually cried the night after a particularly nasty episode because he didn't want to go to sleep for fear of not waking back up.

"No up," Jaden had cried into her shoulder as she had attempted to soothe him. "Go s'eep. No up!"

Lorraine had gone through her fair share of night terrors with her first son, though thankfully they hadn't occurred as often as Jaden's seemed to be happening. Her first son had been easy to console afterwards and never suffered from afterimages. Jaden appeared to be able to remember his night terrors perfectly for a few days before finally mellowing back out and sleeping peacefully. only for the cycle to begin again the next night.

The mother had spoken to a pediatrician about his condition and learned that Jaden shouldn't remember anything nor should the episodes have been occurring as often or at this level of intensity as they seemed to be. She had scheduled an appointment with the same pediatrician for the beginning of next week, so hopefully she would be able to find some answers.

Right now all Lorraine could do was comfort the boy to the best of her ability as he subconsciously cried into her nightgown.

**~:0:~**

He felt warm. And comforted. And…nice. Yes, nice like when he was cuddled up with mommy for his nappy. He didn't feel like opening his eyes as he yawned and snuggled into the warmth. He was so tired…

Someone gently ran a hand over his head, and he felt a shiver (a _nice_ shiver) travel down his back as a deep voice spoke. "I am sorry my child. It appears that your old life does not wish to be easily forgotten. Perhaps that is simply as it should be."

The nice voice sounded really sad. Jaden didn't like it when people were sad. He wanted them to laugh like he did! The person petting his head did just that. "Yes, it appears that Jazz must be Jaden, and Jaden must be Jazz. Even my efforts to separate them have been ineffective. There will always be a small part of you that will be 'Jazz.' But little ones should not dream of death and war or the tragic mistakes made in their past life. I will keep them at bay, little one, until the time comes that you are able to understand what is being shown to you. Now rest in peace for I will be there to protect you. I do not abandon my children, no matter what form they may take, and I will not break the promise I made of your new life."

Jaden smiled sleepily as he continued to receive pets of affection and drifted off into a deep sleep no longer plagued with images of his Cybertronian-self killing in a war he shouldn't remember.

**~:0:~**

Lorraine had been astounded by the sudden change in Jaden. By the time their appointment with the pediatrician had rolled around, Jaden had returned to his bubbly, mischievous self again. He had even sat in the doctor's lap and attempted to relieve the professional of anything he could get his hands on.

"Whatever may have been wrong has obviously passed," the older man said as Jaden made a grab for his stethoscope after tossing the pen he had stolen. Despite Lorraine's flustered apologies, the doctor merely chuckled as the curious one year old chewed on the end of the instrument, pointedly trying to shove it to the back of jaw. "But it looks like this little fellow has a molar beginning to erupt. Perhaps that had been the reason behind his discomfort. Here, I can give you a prescription for a pain reliever that should help him get through the rest."

He paused to take a lollipop out of his pocket and offered it to Jaden. The toddler immediately zoned in on it and tossed the foul tasting medical tool aside to snatch the hard red candy from his hand. His mother watched him pop it into his mouth and suck. "What do you say Jaden?"

"T'ank 'ou," Jaden managed to get out past his sucker, sucking up the drool that tried to dribble out of his mouth as he spoke. The pediatrician smiled at the slightly advanced speech and turned back to filling the prescription.

Lorraine never needed to use it though. Jaden seemed perfectly fine with his teethers or the apple slices she gave him to chew on. He never experienced another night terror after that, although, she _did_ wake up on several occasions to find that he had snuck out of his crib and was cuddled up to her side with Mr. Nannas and his blankie.

And of course, all were unaware of the deity that smiled down and watched the child grow into his true potential

* * *

**AN: **Hopefully this will be the last "upsetting" chapter for a while. Jaden's gotta a few more things to experience as a toddler before moving on. I'll be trying to work on my other story this weekend, so this week of constant updating has probably come to an end. If I get another out tomorrow it'll probably be a spur of the moment kind of thing :P


	6. My Way or the Highway

**AN: **In which we discover that Jadey-poo is a definite force to be reckoned with ;P

**Warnings:** strong language; teenagers (yes, that is a legit warning); poor babysitting skills

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Five

My Way or the Highway

* * *

Jaden did _not _like his new babysitter. He didn't understand why Sammy was there one day and the next mommy was leaving him with a new person. She had told him to her "BB" because he wouldn't have been have able to say her full name, but Jaden suddenly found that he didn't like the "b" sound anymore. Mommy must not have liked it either because every time she came home to his toys strewn across the apartment, a dirty kitchen, or food left in the living room, she'd sigh and say, "That girl betta' straighten up 'fore she looking for another job. Her mama bein' a good friend is the only thing that's keepin' her here."

So Jaden had started using that name too. _That girl_ didn't do anything but talk to herself with that shiny thing pressed to her ear. Sammy had had one too, although it was a lot less shiny, and she had talked on it too, but she always let him use it to hear mommy's voice when he got upset so that was okay. Girl just talked and talked on it and would slap his hand away when he wanted to hear mommy and tell him to go play with his toys.

She didn't understand that he had to have his records playing to take a nap or that his favorite show came on the same time she tried to make him go to sleep (_two hours_ before he was supposed to) so that she could watch her show. It was very bad by the way; he had watched it from the hallway where she couldn't see him, and he didn't understand why people were biting each other's necks and getting nakey. He got in trouble now if he randomly took his Pull-Up off without having to go peepee.

Right now, he was "stuck" in his crib glaring through the bars at the wall. Girl had put him in "timeout" for throwing his food on the floor, but that wasn't his fault. If she was like mommy or Sammy she would have known that he didn't like the icky red part on his apples and he didn't like the green melons. He preferred the red because green was mommy's. Besides, it was the third day that mommy was gone, and _everyone_ knew that on the third day mommy was gone, he _always_ ate the little round things with cheese and sauce for lunch. He had gone on long enough eating just fruit for lunch; he needed his pizza like every other growing boy!

Girl had to go, and she had to go _today._

Jaden stood up in his crib after consulting with Mr. Nannas about his plan (he highly approved by the way) and wiggled the bar of his crib's "door." Mommy had said that he was a big boy now and needed a new bed to show that, but she hadn't been able to go get his big boy bed yet, so he was still stuck with the crib. Mommy knew by now that it was useless to raise the bars because he put them back down just as easily, but Girl hadn't paid very much attention to what mommy had told her.

The toddler shimmied down the side of the crib and peeked out of the bedroom door. She was nowhere in sight, which meant she was laid up on the couch either watching TV or talking to herself, so Jaden took the opportunity to dash into the kitchen. He had a plan set in his little mind, and in order to accomplish it, he needed supplies.

**~:0:~**

"No, I'm telling you. Stacy is totally going to shack up with Nick before high school ends," Brittany said into her phone as she twirled a piece of her curly black hair and half watched a show on TV. "Why should I know where they'll do it? He'll probably pop her cherry after their date tonight. Yeah, they're having a 'night at home' type of thing. Total excuse to do it…so what if Stacy said she's gonna wait until marriage? It's a total lie, and she only says it because her parents are Catholics."

She sat up when she heard a bang from the kitchen. "Jen, I gotta go. Yeah, the brat I'm watching somehow got out of his crib. No! This job is, like, easy cash, and I don't wanna work at some fast food joint like McDonalds. I'd gain ten pounds just _breathing_ the air there. You should totally see the kid though. I've never seen anyone with bright blue eyes like his! The mom must have shacking up with a nice looking white boy because his looks _definitely _didn't come from her."

Brittany stopped at the entrance to the kitchen and gaped. It looked like everything had been pulled out of the refrigerator and thrown onto the floor! And the little brat stood in the midst of it all, his hand buried deep into a jar of jelly as he stood there as naked as the day he was born. "You brat! I'm the one that's gonna be cleaning this shit up!"

Jaden looked up at her and grinned before taking his hand out of the jar, pulling his arm back, and launching the globe of purple jelly straight at her. She didn't have time to duck, and she shrieked as it hit her right between the eyes. During the immediate dance and song of "Gross, gross!" and "Get it off!", Brittany failed to realize that her phone fell from her grasp and landed on the tiled floor.

Jaden, however, intently watched it happen and dashed over to pick the phone up and just as quickly run from the room. Phase one had been completed, and as an added bonus, he was free to feel the wind on his nakey behind!

**~:0:~**

Brittany wanted to yell as she yanked a comb through her wet hair. She had just gotten it permed yesterday after school! Now her hair was going to go all flat because she had to wash that stupid jelly out of it, and on top of that she had to forgo the use of conditioner. Everything in the bathroom was, like, locked up in a safe or something under the cabinet with the exception of the shampoo, which had been left on a shelf in the shower with the soap. This woman was way too paranoid about her hair products.

The teenager finished combing her hair and glared at the wet spots her hair left behind on her shirt. This was that brat's fault! How did he even get out of the crib? Whatever, when she found him she was going to give him the spanking of a lifetime, one that would make him think _twice_ the next time he thought to do something like this.

Now where did he run off to? Dammit! What was his name again? It started with a "J," that much she remembered. Jacob? Jeremy? Jake?

"Where are you, you little brat?" Brittany said aloud as she finally decided to just call him "brat." It wasn't like she really cared. She checked the bedroom first, remembering that he had run in this direction, and backtracked to the living room. Where else could a kid hide at in a tiny apartment like this? "Come here and I'll…give you a cookie! You like cookies don't you?"

A giggle came from behind her, and she twirled around to see the naked child standing in front of the bathroom. But she had checked everywhere on that side of the apartment first! "Where the hell were you hiding? Come here so I can punish you for what you did in the kitchen."

Jaden simply grinned and pulled out the bedazzled phone he had hidden behind his back. "Lookie!"

Brittany's eyes widened at the sight of her phone, and she reached down to pat her pockets down. How had he gotten her phone? "Give the phone back to me sweetheart." She cursed when her ignored her and ran into the bathroom. "Hand it over you little fuc-"

Color drained from her face as she heard the sound of the toilet flush, and she didn't think twice with running down the hallway to the bathroom. Jaden streaked past her with a happy squeal, but she ignored him as she rushed into the room to grip the seat of the toilet and watch the water fill the bowl back up.

Jaden was quite proud of himself when he heard Girl's devastated wail while shimmying into one of his harder to find hiding nooks. Phase two: flawlessly executed…Ooh! So _that's_ where that chocolate cookie from the other day had vanished to. This day was just getting better and better. He was getting rid of Girl, he was nakey, and he had a cookie!

**~:0:~**

Jaden loved to use his finger paints. He used them up so quickly that mommy always had to buy him new ones every other week. That was how he had gotten so many bright colors, and he used them as often as possible because mommy said it helped make "the room bright and warm, just like your smile." Of course, then she'd put him in the bathtub to scrub off all those wonderful colors, but at least his pictures survived to brighten up the room.

He wondered if it would make Girl's books better to read. Phase three wouldn't have much impact if it did.

Jaden flipped the page of the book and systematically made a crooked circle, his little pink tongue sticking out the side of his mouth in immense concentration. His circle was _ten times _better than the one already in the book. Plus it was bright yellow like the sun.

The toddler looked up towards the bathroom and huffed when he could still hear Girl crying. Maybe he would feel bad if he had flushed something of hers that was like his Pow down the toilet, but she was just acting like a _big baby._ It was better to talk to other people than to herself anyway.

…he could totally make a puppy out of his yellow circle. Woof woof!

Jaden was too busy giggling to himself that he didn't notice the end of the crying or the brutal presence bearing down on him until Girl shrieked in rage. "My school books! Do you know how much these things will cost for me to replace? I won't be able to graduate until I pay them off!"

He looked down at his halfway completed puppy and then back up at her. It was probably worth a lot of money now that he had made it better. "Puppy!"

He squeaked as he was yanked up by his upper arm and yanked away the books. "Owie!" he cried as she pinched his arm. That really hurt! "Huwt me!"

"I'm _gonna _hurt you alright," she snarled as she stopped in the hallway to glare down at him. "You little snot nosed brat! You deserve a good beating for what you've-"

In Jaden's opinion, mommy had the best timing _ever_. He heard the click of the lock on the front door, and he initiated phase four immediately. He opened his mouth and let loose a shrill wail, making girl jump in surprise.

Jaden was too busy pushing crocodile tears from his eyes to watch Brittany flinch at the sight of Lorraine or how Lorraine stared at them with horrified alarm. "This is totally not what it looks like! Ms. Robinson he-he-"

Lorraine set her mouth in a straight line and stared at the teenager with hard eyes as she steadily walked over to take her crying child out of her arms. Jaden played perfectly into her arms as he whimpered and clutched her shirt. "Get out. I don't wanna see you nowhere around my child again, and you can bet that I'm telling you mother _exactly_ what you've done the first chance I see her tomorrow."

Brittany huffed and tried to intimidate the older woman with a glare, but Lorraine had been around a lot longer and didn't waver in the least. "W-well, he's a little brat anyways! He needs a good beating after what he's done today."

"Girl, I can't help but agree that you need the same. Now get your things and _get out_ before I become tempted to do something a God fearing woman like myself shouldn't even think of!"

Jaden peeked out of his mommy's shoulder and grinned when he saw Girl stomping out of the house with her wet hair and ruined books. Operation "Get Girl Out of Here" was a total success. _And _he had his mommy to cuddle with now.

The only thing that would make this day better was if mommy let him stay nakey.

"Let's get you some clothes on sweetie; then we can sit down and watch your favorite movie."

Darn it. Well, at least he'd learned how to count up to four today. He couldn't wait to amaze his mommy with that new skill.

* * *

**AN: **Alright, that's seriously the end of constant updating. I found this in my notebook last night when I was looking for notes on my other story, and it was already halfway completed. I'm not the type of person who likes to leave something halfway completed if I can help it ;) I was "inspired" by a pair of teenagers who sit behind me in speech for Brittany's character...they made me seriously wonder how they managed to get into the dual-enrollment program.


	7. New Friend

**AN: **I think I've just about resigned myself to wanting to write this story more than the other. I'm still working on it, but it's just being difficult. Meanwhile, this story won't leave me alone! Why won't you let me write my other story Jazz? D:

Also, I'd like to point out that Jaden won't _officially_ reunite with the Autobots until he's a lot older. And I'm not skipping ahead to when he does. He's still got a lot of development as "Jaden" to go through, but with the shorter chapters in this story, come a lot faster updates.

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Six

New Friend

* * *

By the time Jaden turned two, he had already run off four different babysitters, put one in the hospital (by _complete_ accident; how was he supposed to know that putting too much butter on the floor would make her fall and break her arm?), and established a reputation that had babysitters hanging up the phone the moment Lorraine mentioned his name. Jaden didn't understand that each day his mommy stayed home with him was one that she didn't make the money they needed to keep food on the table. He was simply ecstatic to play with his mommy all day and not have to put up with random people.

It wasn't _his_ fault none of his new babysitters lived up to the standards that mommy and Sammy had set a long ago. After Brittany came one that talked through her nose; she lasted for a week before getting tired of him trying to shove something up her nose every chance he got as he attempted to figure what was up there to make her sound that way. Then came the one that ended up in the hospital; she had lasted longer (about a month) and had even been more bearable than the first two, but she had a bad habit of only playing classical music when Jaden wanted to listen to jazz or new age rock or just something _different_. He liked classical (he liked any type of music if he was honest), but listening to it _every day_ didn't sit well with him. So she had to go.

The next one was just bad all around. She was one of those nannies who believed in a firm hand and went into a fit whenever Jaden did or watched something that wouldn't expand his intelligence. She had been a hard nut to crack, lasting for about six months, but Jaden had managed to get her dismissed by manipulating her into breaking a couple of his records, which had made mommy _very_ angry. It was a hard sacrifice to make and he hadn't liked making mommy sad, but that woman had been driving him insane! The last one didn't even last a day, and Jaden still wasn't sure why she had suddenly run out of the apartment screaming when he had licked at the snot that had run down from his nose. The least she could have done was actually _wipe_ his nose for him.

When mommy had come home from work to find him playing alone with Mr. Nannas on her bed, she had finally decided that babysitters just didn't cut it anymore. She couldn't afford a very expensive daycare service with her current salary, but she didn't want to send her son to a place that didn't make her feel comfortable just because it was cheap.

The week after the last babysitter's abrupt leaving (Lorraine had later discovered that she had blatantly lied during her interview and didn't include the number of mental illnesses that made her unstable in certain environments), Lorraine must have looked at a dozen different childcare services, but none of them had satisfied her. One had had some shady people milling around it, which the woman running it had tried to dismiss as her son and his "friends"; another had had a rickety old playground that just looked like a huge lawsuit waiting to happen; and at another she had seen one of the employees lash out at a child not much older than her Jaden and the owner had tried to casually dismiss it as a one time deal and that the abuser was just "under a lot of stress at the moment." Well, so was Lorraine, but you didn't see her lashing out at her son for no reason.

On top of that, Jaden didn't appear to like any of the places. He hadn't exhibited the outgoing personality she had grown used to, choosing instead to cling to her leg and barely acknowledging the owners when they tried to talk to him, which contradicted the times he would noisily try to start a "conversation" with strangers at the grocery store. She didn't want to place Jaden in a place that would stifle his personality, but as the week went by, she had been steadily running out of options.

The phone call she got from Samantha that Saturday had seemed like a gift sent straight from heaven.

"We just had a couple of kids move on up to Kindergarten," Samantha had told her. "There are a few openings now, and the kids on the waiting list don't fill up all the spots. Bring Jaden down here on Monday, and let's see how he likes it here. If all goes well, then I'll talk to my boss and see if there's some kind of discount or scholarship we can work out. If there isn't, then I'll be willing to pay the difference."

"Oh you don't have to that Sam," Lorraine had said, though her heart filled gratitude for the younger woman. "I wouldn't want to take your hard earned money."

"Don't be silly Ms. Lori! Without Jaden, I would be completely overwhelmed with all these kids; none of them can compare to that troublemaker. Besides, I miss my little Jadey-poo."

So come Monday morning, Lorraine was walking a tentative Jaden into the Little People Academy and being greeted by an elderly woman. "Hello Ms. Robison. Oh and this must be little Jaden! My, my, my, I've heard a lot about you." Jaden ducked behind his mother's leg and peeked out when he heard the woman laugh. "Not the little troublemaker I've heard about around new people, huh? Well that's fine. I'm sure you'll be bouncing off the walls by the time your mummy comes to pick you up this afternoon."

Jaden blinked at the new woman as he took his mommy's hand and walked silently with them while they talked. She looked a little like Sammy, just a lot older, wrinklier, and lighter. She didn't look anything like mommy.

"And this is the two to three year olds," she said while opening a door. "Once they reach four, we move them up into the Pre-K classes before they travel off to the public or private schools in the area. Here we provide a rich environment for-"

Jaden stopped paying attention after that as he stared at the room in awe. It…was so…bright! And there were lots of toys for him to play with, and paper and crayons for him to color, and movies for him to watch. And there were other people his size, and they actually looked _happy_, and they were…he gasped in happiness as he saw them in the corner dancing to some cool music. He wanted to dance too!

"Mommy! Wanna dance!" he said exuberantly as he tugged on her hand. He was so busy doing that that he failed to see the person who stepped out of the supply closet on the other side of the room. However, he did see his mommy suddenly wave at someone and turned to see who. He was running towards her before she had even crouched down, threw her arms open wide, and called out "Jadey-poo!"

"Sammy!" Jaden gushed as he jumped into her arms. He took face between his hands and exuberantly kissed her all over. "Miss 'ou Sammy!"

"I missed you too," she gushed and playfully rubbed her nose against his. He giggled. "You wanna stay with me today and have lots of fun with the other kids?"

Jaden nodded eagerly and joined the other dancers after giving his mommy a huge hug and kiss goodbye. This was going to be awesome!

**~:0:~**

This completely sucked!

Jaden knew he wasn't supposed to use that word because mommy had said it was a bad word, but that was how he felt at the moment. He had wanted to play with _Sammy_, but other kids kept taking her attention from him! When they were going to play blocks together, another little boy had peed in his pants so Sammy had to deal with that. When he had finally gotten Sammy back and sat her down to draw him, one of the other big ladies took her away to help with a little girl who had scraped her knee and was having a bloody fit.

Now he stood in a huff with his arms crossed over his chest and his bottom lip poked out in a pout. Samantha sighed at the exaggerated stance. "I'm sorry Jadey-poo, but it's not the same as when I only had to watch you. I have to help look out for the other kids too." She sighed when his expression didn't change and handed him a big red bouncy ball. "Here, why don't you go out and play with the other kids while I help clean up from snack time? I _promise_ that when I'm done, we'll play together. Okay?"

Jaden just huffed and snatched the ball away before toddling out the door to join the other kids on the playground. He looked around for a prospective group of kids to play with him. Perhaps the girls over in the little house?

"Pway wit' me?" he sweetly asked them while holding the ball out to them.

Two of the girls looked at each while a third one held a baby doll in a poor imitation of how she had seen her mama hold her brother. Finally one of them turned to point at him. "You be da daddy!"

Jaden's blue eyes widened and he took a step back. He didn't wanna be a daddy! "No!"

"T'en we no wanna pway!" the same girl said and shooed her friends into the house before slamming the door on him. Jaden stuck his tongue out at them when they peeked through the windows and moved onto the next group of kids. He didn't wanna play with _girls_ anyway.

The next group was four boys a little older than him. They wouldn't even slow down long enough for Jaden to ask as they chased each other around. So he moved on to the next…and then the next…and then the next, until finally he ended up back at where he had started. Why didn't anyone want to play with him? Was there something wrong with him?

He looked over at the group of girls he had started with and caught the eye of the one with the baby doll. She hesitated before holding the doll out in invitation, but the other girl, the one who had proposed him be the daddy, immediately cut her off and dragged her back into the house but not before stopping to stick her tongue out at Jaden like he had done to them earlier. His cheeks puffed out in anger at the display, and he pointedly turned away. He still didn't need any girls to play with him.

Jaden looked out at the playground and caught sight of one little kid he hadn't noticed before, though how he had missed him the first go around was a mystery. He had bright, bright, _bright_ red hair that stuck out against the neutral colors of the sandbox, and it was like there was an invisible wall between him and the other children milling around the sandbox. They just didn't seem to want to play with him, and he seemed perfectly fine with that.

…that kid was perfect! Jaden was going to play with the redhead if it was the last thing he did. He ran across the playground, dodging other running kids and playground equipment, until he stood panting in front of the kid. "Pway wit' me!"

It wasn't a question like he had tentatively asked the others. It was a command—an abbreviated version of "You're _gonna _play with me whether you like or not." Jaden blinked as the child looked up at him with big green eyes and noisily sucked on his pacifier. He tilted his head one way, and then another. He hadn't seen anyone else running around with a pacifier in their mouths and didn't really know what a pacifier _was_ because he had stuck mainly to ringed teethers. Maybe that was why no one would play with him.

Whatever; Jaden didn't care what the kid stuck in his mouth. That was his business. But he was still going to play with him. "Catch!"

Jaden threw the ball to him, but the redhead openly watched it roll past him to the other side of the sandbox. The toddler huffed and went after the ball, bringing it back to his start position. "You s'pose ta catch!"

The new little boy blinked as the ball bounced off his head and bounced out of the sandbox. Jaden froze and waited for the inevitable crying since all the kids here seemed to cry on the drop of a dime, but he was pleasantly surprised to see the kid simply blink some more and go back to making his sandcastle. This one was tough—tougher than all the other kids in this place.

He had potential.

Jaden toddled over and plunked right down beside the redhead, picking up a shovel not being used and digging for more sand. "My name is Ja'en."

The redhead blinked before nodding and patting down the sand Jaden put into the bucket. They continued to work together to create as many sandcastles as they could before being called back in for naptime. Jaden did all the talking while his new friend silently listened, but Jaden couldn't find a problem with that all.

**~:0:~**

Samantha had been extremely relieved when she had come outside to see that Jaden had found someone to play with. He wasn't used to having to share her, and she could tell that that didn't please him _at all. _But if he were to stay in daycare then he had to learn that sometimes she wasn't exclusively available to him.

What made her happier was that he had chosen Matthew to play with. Matthew was very introverted for a two year old, and he never really attempted to play with the others. The pacifier he chewed on rarely came out of his mouth except to eat or drink, and the kids who had given up their pacifiers (which was most, if not all) were sort of turned off by it.

But Jaden—wonderful little Jadey-poo—had managed to become the center of attention for the little redhead, and the two toddlers had remained a pair for the rest of day. Jaden had even insisted on sleeping right next to his new friend when naptime rolled around.

Now Jaden and Matthew were one of the few children left to be picked up for the day, and while others preferred to color while they waited, Jaden and Matthew were busy being their own two-man band, shaking homemade maracas and banging on the little drums with sticks.

When she felt like her fellow co-worker could handle the rest of the children, Samantha moved over to sit on the floor with the pair. Jaden paused his drum banging to jump up and hug her neck. "Sammy! Me' my bestes' fwiend."

Sammy smiled as Matthew placidly sucked his pacifier while looking up at Jaden with bright green eyes. "I see! Did you and Mattie have fun today?"

The dark skinned child nodded eagerly. "Yeah. We ma'e san'castles, an' den we pwayed wobot city. Den we shared juice an' cookies!" Mattie nodded along with him and shook his maraca, reminding Jaden of a forgotten detail. "We pway ban'! Ah dwum!"

"Well I'm so happy you made a new friend Jadey-poo," the woman said, playfully swinging his hands in hers. "That means you'll have to come back tomorrow to play some more."

Jaden nodded eagerly, and Matthew suddenly stood up and ran across the room into the arms of a woman with the same shade of red hair. Samantha got up to get Matthew's bag for him mom, and they were almost out of the room when Jaden yelled, "Bye Mattie!"

Mattie shocked both women by taking his pacifier out and shouting back, "Bye Jad'n! See 'ou 'morrow!"

The pacifier was back in just as quickly as it had come out, but Samantha couldn't help but smile. She had a feeling that these two would become great friends.

* * *

**AN:** Introducing: Mattie! The adorable and quiet little redhead who is Jaden's bestest friend :) Poor kid's gotta lot to look forward to with Jaden as a friend ;)


	8. Monsters

**AN: **The Fallen's dialogue for this chapter is straight from _Revenge of the Fallen_. Or at least what IMDb quotes him saying.

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Seven

Monsters

* * *

Jaden never really believed in monsters. Lorraine tried to avoid television programs or movies that would give him those fears, and other than the night terrors that he now had no memory of, he had never had nightmares. He was always the one who laughed when Mattie would describe the monster that would eat little children who chewed on their pacifiers for too long. Mattie's daddy had had a hard time explaining why Jaden had never heard of the terrifying monster, and now his parents had to find another way to get Mattie to give up the pacifier on his own.

That all changed the day the TV became possessed.

It was the first time Mattie had been allowed over to play, and they had been playing with his superhero robots. Jaden had just finished explaining that the black one was named "I'nhide" and the green was "Wa'chet" when the cartoon they were watching suddenly went off.

Jaden, being the intuitive child he was, stood up to fiddle with the controller, thinking that the TV had just turned off. When that didn't work, he walked over and smacked the side of the electronic. Both children screamed at the face that came on after Jaden's smack.

"_Citizens of the human hive, your leaders have withheld the truth. You are not-"_

"Jaden?" Lorraine called from the kitchen as the monster continued to speak. "What are you two watching?"

Jaden and Mattie looked at each other before running into the kitchen to cling to the surprised woman's legs. "Mommy! Dere's a mons'er!"

"A monster?" Lorraine repeated good naturally as she wiped her hands of the fruit she had been cutting up for their snack. "I hope your good robots can beat him."

"No mommy," Jaden insisted as Mattie noisily chewed on his pacifier. "Dere's a _weal_ mons'er on da TV!"

Lorraine allowed the children to drag her into the living room where she gaped at the mechanical face on the screen. Memories of the incident two years ago flashed through her mind, and she looked down at the children to see Jaden looking up at her with real, instinctual fear while his friend seemed to unconsciously feed off of that fear.

"_We have lived among you, hidden, but no more. As you've seen, we destroy your cities-"_

She quickly moved to turn the TV off, and when that didn't seem to work, she reached behind the TV and disconnected the cable. The TV pinged slightly as it finally went out, and the woman turned to see the children still staring at it with terror. Jaden was working himself up into a fit, and that worried her. She had never seen him act that way since his night terrors. "How 'bout we go down ta the park? Come on, get your toys and we'll go outside."

Mattie nodded and picked up the toys they had been playing with. Jaden, on the other hand, sought out the protective embrace of his mother, and she gave it to him, attempting to soothe his worry by rubbing his back and speaking in soft tones. "It's a'right. I was just a mean joke; that's all it was."

Mattie patiently waited for them with his tiny backpack filled with toys and his pacifier gripped in his hand instead of in his mouth. The two boys took each other's hand and Jaden extended his free one to tightly grip his mother's as they left the apartment.

Halfway to the park, Mattie suddenly squeezed Jaden's hand, dragging the other toddler's attention to him. The redhead's green eyes were bigger than any other time Jaden had seen them, and his freckles stood out against the sudden paleness of the child's face. "The pacy mons'er! Gonna ge' me Jad'n!"

Jaden squeezed his hand back reassuringly as his normal confidence and stubbornness resurfaced. "Nobo'y gonna take _my_ bestes' fwiend. Ah beat dem up!"

Lorraine couldn't decide whether she was worried by Jaden's inclination to violence or to "awe" as her son dragged his friend closer. However, she had no qualms at laughing at the two boys from a distance when they held a serious service for the pacifier in the playground sandbox. They weren't about to give the pacifier monster a reason for coming after the redhead.

And life continued on as the people around her chose to believe that the strange broadcast had only been a prank. But Lorraine and many other Mission City survivors knew better than that.

* * *

**AN:** Like I said to a reviewer, I'm beginning to sense a pattern with the updating of this fic...so, I guess unless I don't have anything written, you can expect a chapter everyday during the week. Will that pattern continue? Only my inspiration knows and he tends to get iffy at times.

So, I'll see you guys tomorrow :)


	9. Big Bro

**AN:** I'm sorry for posting so late! I had totally forgotten about the test I had today, and my writing time got taken up by studying D: But I still got it done…super late, but done nonetheless :) So sorry for any mistakes you may find in my shoddy/super quick editing.

I want to thank_ TheInheritance_ before I start because it was her review that finally helped me figure out who Jaden's big brother would be. I was already halfway there, but her review is what gave me that final push :)

**Warnings: **Slight language

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Eight

Big Bro

* * *

It was no mystery to Jaden that he had a big brother. His mommy had told him all about Bobby; he was a superhero after all.

Yes, Jaden had a brother that was a superhero. Mommy told him that Bobby fought the bad people to protect him and mommy, which made Bobby a superhero. It was awesome to have a superhero brother to brag to his friends about…well, to brag to Mattie about. Not that Mattie cared when his own daddy was a superhero too, with a bright shiny badge and everything.

But Jaden had never met Bobby before. Mommy said he was always _really_ far away, keeping him safe from the bad guys. He was coming home now because mommy had called him after the monster came on the TV. Jaden wasn't supposed to be awake when she made the call, but he hadn't been sleepy and had instead stood peeking out the cracked door of the bedroom to listen to mommy in the living room.

"Bobby," she had said in a worried tone he had never heard her use before. "I just want to _see_ you. I know you were involved in that Mission City fiasco—don't you dare try to lie to your mama! I don't _care_ if it's top secret; I saw it all with my own damn eyes, then and now."

There was a pause. "Alright, alright. You bring Monique and the kids for a visit. _Bobby_, this aint about you no more. I wanna see my grandkids…yes, I've changed my mind. I don't need to see your hardheaded self." There was a short laugh, so Jaden knew his mommy was joking. "You just tell whoever's in charge that your mama needs to see you…Jaden! You better be in bed lil' boy!"

That was how Bobby had become a superhero—he got it from mommy.

**~:0:~**

Jaden wiggled in his seat as he eagerly waited for his brother to show up. Mommy was in the kitchen getting a big lunch ready, so he had decided to stay in the living room and let her work. But it was extremely _boring_ just sitting there, even when he had his Wa'chet hitting his I'nhide repeatedly on the head. When was Bobby going to get here? He wanted to see his superhero brother he could brag about!

By the time Bobby arrived, Jaden had already retreated to the bedroom to go on a "journey" with Mr. Nannas to find his brother. He was currently searching the "cave" beneath the bed when he heard voices from outside the room. He wiggled out, dragging his monkey behind him, and peeked outside the door.

At the front door his mommy was hugging a big lady with a baby carrier sitting on the ground beside them. Behind the big lady was a _really_ big man who had to bend down for his mommy to kiss him on the cheek. A little girl his size was hiding behind the man, and another boy a little older than him was hypnotically playing the handheld game he had.

Jaden streaked down the hallway with a second thought and tackled the older boy. "Bobby!"

The little girl squealed in surprise as the boy lost his balance and almost crashed into her. The boy landed on the ground with a grunt, his game flying out of his hands as he glared down at the little boy snuggling him. "_Daaad!_ Get him off!"

Jaden yelped as he was grabbed under the arms from behind and began to laugh hysterically as he was thrown into the air. He gripped the dark arms that held him up and looked down into the smiling face below him. "Is this Jaden? How's this lil' guy get into all the trouble you been telling me about?"

"You'll just have to see him in action," Lorraine answered cryptically as she began to usher everyone towards the living room. "Come here and let grandma see you kids!"

The boy groaned after getting his game back, and the little girl skipped after the women. Jaden tried to go with them, but the man was holding him tight. Why wouldn't he put him down? He had to follow his brother! "Bobby!"

"What?" the man asked playfully as he lifted Jaden up, balancing the small boy on his hands. "_I'm_ Bobby, lil' runt."

Jaden looked down at the man with wide blue eyes. His brother…was a giant! He was a _giant_ superhero! Take that all the big brothers on the playground; his Bobby was even bigger! He reached down and captured his _big_ brother's cheeks, squeezing them together between his hands. "'Ou a _giant_ Bobby!"

Bobby got a kick out of that and laughed as he wiggled a finger into Jaden's armpit, making the child unconsciously laugh without restraint. "And you're really _small_ Jaden. How old are you? One? One and a half?"

"Ah is two an'-" Jaden stopped to work his fingers into the number mommy had showed him the last time he asked how old he was. "Dis many!"

"Two and a half? Jeez, what's mama feeding you kid? You're smaller than a runt!" He giggled as Bobby slung him under his arm like a bag and carried him to the living room. "Mama! What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with you? You go months without callin' your mama, you name your first boy _Fred_, and the first thing you say when you finally come to visit is that I'm crazy!"

Jaden laughed as he was sat down beside the boy-who-was-not-his-Bobby and watched his mommy playfully slap the real Bobby on the arm. He was liking his big brother more and more by the minute. He couldn't wait to show off his toys!

**~:0:~**

Epps liked to think of himself as a man who lived simply. Never spend more than he had—that had been his policy since moving out of the house, marrying Monique, and joining the US Army nearly eight years ago. He was even working on teaching that same philosophy to his son, Fred, between tours of duty and his responsibilities to NEST, though it was hard to tell if the lesson was sinking in with the way the kid begged his mom to go out and by the latest video game every week. It had taken his mama a couple of years to instill that attitude in him, and it didn't even take firm rooting until he moved out.

But that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate the finer things in life. Or let his mama pass up opportunities to experience it as well.

Of course, she didn't look that impressed by the blue Chevrolet Volt sitting on the curb in front of her apartment building and that Epps proudly displayed to her. "_Robert Raymond Epps_, this better not be a repeat of your junior year in high school."

"_Mama," _Epps said in mock offense as he exaggeratingly threw his hands up. "I did _not_ steal this car. And technically speaking, stealing the principal's car had a positive effect. I busted the school's drug ring and got that bastard arrested for having twenty pounds of cocaine in his trunk."

Lorraine hummed, unimpressed as she looked the car up and down, almost like it was a real person. "How did you get your family in this tiny thing?"

"Monique drove the van. This is just on 'loan' from the army. I'm just taking care of it for a little while; Monique understands."

He watched his mama shake her head, and Epps moved to encourage her closer to the car. "Just get in and enjoy the nice benefits your son gets." Once she was seated comfortably in the passenger's seat, he hurried around to the other side and happily hopped in behind the wheel. He watched his mother respectfully keep her hands in her lap and look at the center console with slight curiosity. "Why the sudden need to see me mama?"

"A mother can't see her grown son just to see him?" Lorraine questioned. Epps gave her a look, and she sighed and put a hand on his knee, squeezing gently. "I just wanted to see you Bobby. I don't hear from you as often as I'd like, and all the stuff that's been goin' on these past two years just had me worried 'bout you."

"I told you-"

"Boy, don't you interrupt your mama."

Epps nodded and proceeded to patiently tap his fingers on the top of the steering wheel. He'd gone through situations like this a lot of times while in high school and didn't doubt that Jaden would too. A boy just didn't interrupt his mama, and at some point in his life he learned that.

"I know what you told me. It was just plain coincidence that you were brought back over to the states after being the only survivors from Qatar, and then magically ending up over here in Mission City when those things attacked. I'm not stupid, and I don't appreciate being treated like I was! I'm not like the other people who'd rather pretend didn't nothin' happen. I don't care if it's top secret or confidential or anything like that. You tell me right now if you involved with any of this stuff that went down a month ago and two years ago in this city."

Epps shifted uncomfortably and wished he could turn the car's AC on. But that it would have been suspicious for it to turn on without putting a key in the ignition. "Mama-"

"Yes or no."

Jeez, how could he have forgotten how much of a hard-ass woman his mama was under that top layer of sweet lady? It just was not fair that that hard-ass woman only came out with him.

He made a weird head motion between a nod and a shake. Him, Will, and some of the other higher ranked officers who worked directly with the Autobots had been given permission to inform their immediate family members about the Autobots, but Epps had been one of the many who had chosen not to do so because of the belief that the less his family knew, the safer they would be. He had only just recently told his wife about them, and that was only because he had an Autobot temporarily assigned to him while he was over in the states and after Monique had attempted to run the poor mech through a carwash.

Needless to say, Jolt (who had only recently landed on Earth) was not inclined to go anywhere alone with his wife anymore. Who would have thought that carwashes and Autobots didn't mix?

Lorraine leaned back in her seat as she received the answer to her question and stared out of the windshield. "You trust them?"

"With my life," he answered without hesitation. For all the ups and downs the members of NEST, both mechanical and organic, had gone through in the past two years, none of the Autobots had let him down. Not even the knuckleheaded twins.

Lorraine took a moment to digest his confession before nodding in approval and moving to get out of the car. "They betta' protect my big boy. In fact, if they're like the one who saved me two years, I _know_ they can."

"You don't think I can protect myself?" Epps yelled with mock offense through the window that rolled down as his mama walked back to the building.

"Not against somethin' that can squish you!"

The NEST soldier shook his head and chuckled softly while leaning back into the seat. He focused on the radio player as he said, "Now you know what I was talking about on the way over here."

The radio clicked on by itself, only instead of playing of music it said, "I like your femme creator. She is far more intuitive than most of the humans I have seen."

"You don't have to tell _me_ that. Man, I can't tell you how many times I tried to sneak out of the house in high school and _every time_ she'd magically appear to scare the living shit out of me." He sighed as he shifted around to see Lorraine disappear back into the apartment complex. "She had to be like that though. I'm not gonna lie and say I was the perfect kid; in fact, I was a horrible teenager. Wasn't until I signed up to join the Air Force and Monique had Fred that I started straightening up."

"Was your mech creator not involved with raising you?" Jolt asked curiously. "Wait…humans _do_ have a mech creator, correct? I wasn't exactly sure on that subject when Ratchet explained it to me."

Epps nodded. "Yeah, usually. My dad passed away when I was around ten, and I was too young to understand what had happened to him. That left my mom as a single parent, and we weren't exactly living in the best of places either, which was why I encouraged her to move out here. After he died, I got swept into the wrong crowd and made it harder on her than I should have. But that's what made her so good on picking up on the little details. She started learning that certain things I did meant that I was about to go out and do something I knew I shouldn't."

He stopped briefly to chuckle. "That's why I feel bad for Jaden when he grows up and turns into a teenager. He aint gonna get away with _anything."_

Jolt listened to him laugh. "Isn't that a good thing? He won't make the same mistakes as you did."

Epps waved him off. "Trust me. It doesn't matter if he's doing something good or bad. Teenagers don't want their parents to know every little detail 'bout their lives."

The Autobot made a noncommittal noise before starting up. "This is the city where Megatron first fell, correct? I believe I'll take a small tour of that area."

Epps nodded and slid out of the car. He knew what Jolt would really do on his "tour." The mech who had fallen here, Jazz, didn't have a convenient grave for new arrivals to pay respect to, so some had taken brief side trips to Mission City to pay respect at the site he had fallen. Apparently Jazz had been a very loved and respected Autobot, and from the stories that Sideswipe and Ironhide would share, Epps regretted having not properly met the mech.

Jolt pulled away from the curb, and Epps watched him disappear around the corner before turning to the apartment building. He knew the Autobot would be back before his family was prepared to leave to avoid suspicion, and he didn't need to worry about the mech causing a scene.

Epps suddenly yelped as a hand came out of a nowhere and slapped him on the arm. "How could you let me sit in one those things? Do you know how rude that musta been?"

"Mama. Mama! _Mama!_ Stop hittin' me you crazy woman!"

Man, Epps just couldn't wait for Jaden to reach the age where their mama treated him the same way she did her grown son.

**~:0:~**

Jaden sniffed as he watched his newly met family prepare to leave. The girl his age, who he had learned was named Shareeka, moved over to hug him tightly. "Don' cwy Unca' Jadey! We come back soon, wight mommy?"

"We'll see baby," Shareeka's mommy said as she put the twins into their carrier. Jaden hadn't been able to say the little girls' names so he called them "One" and "Two." One had the green bow stuck to her head, and Two had the pink bow. They slept a lot and weren't very fun to play with. "Three" was still in Shareeka's mommy's belly, so she wasn't much fun either. "Say bye-bye to grammy."

Shareeka ran over to hug his mommy, so Jaden decided to get his hugs from his giant superhero brother while he had the chance. He bypassed Freddy, who was playing his game again and didn't even look up at anyone, and tackle-hugged Bobby. "Bobby!"

Bobby took him under the arms and flung him upwards, making him giggle hysterically. The man lowered Jaden back down to his hip and smiled at his giggling adopted brother. "You better behave for mama. She's gotta mean slap."

As if to support his statement, Lorraine playfully slapped him on the bicep, causing Jaden to laugh as Bobby exaggeratingly staggered to the side. "My slaps just mean I love you."

"Then why don't you slap Monique? You say you love her like the daughter you never had."

"That's a_ different_ type of love, sweetie. Only you get my love slaps."

The next few moments were a flurry of good-byes, hugs, kisses, and Two waking up to demand her bottle before they got back on the road. Jaden moved to the window and watched all of them climb into a van, except Bobby, who went to stand beside a pretty blue car before joining the rest of his family in the van.

Jaden turned around to look at his mommy cleaning up in the kitchen. "Mommy, when Bobby comin' back?"

"I don't know sweetie," she answered as she filled the sink with soapy water. "Maybe he'll come back soon."

Jaden nodded and looked around the living room for something to play with, and his eye caught sight of a bright green arm poking out from under the couch. He fell to his knees and crawled over the couch to extract Wa'chet and I'nhide from their hiding place. In all of the excitement he must not have noticed his two favorite robots being shoved under there. Freddy had probably done it when he sat on the couch.

"Mommy! I fo'got ta show Bobby Wa'chet and I'nhide!"

"You'll just have to show him the next time he comes baby."

Right. He'd show his big brother his robots next time he visited.

* * *

**AN: **Bobby! :3 It's my first time ever writing him, so hopefully he didn't come out too bad. Although when I was looking at his wiki page to figure out the name of his kids, I literally started giggling when I saw the writers had named his son Fred. Shareeka, Shaniqua, Sheleeka, Mozambiqua…and Fred. Seriously? They could have at least made the son's name rhyme like the others. Anyway, we'll see more Epps in the future. Probably when the story advances past DOTM :)


	10. Mattie

**AN: **Sorry for not responding to any reviews from last chapter. I've been a little busy today with other stuff, but thanks to everyone who reviewed :D

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Nine

Mattie

* * *

If someone were to stop and ask Mattie why he was friends with Jaden, his answer would be, "I don't know." To be honest that was usually his answer to about everything.

"What do you want for lunch Mattie?" his mama would ask as she busily packed his lunch for the day.

He wouldn't even look up from putting his cereal on his spoon, one circular piece at a time. "I don't know."

"How are you doin' Mattie?" Ms. Jaden's Mommy would ask when she picked Jaden up from daycare.

He would look at her with big, round green eyes and shrug. "I don't know."

"How about we color today?" Miss Sammy would ask him and Jaden when they didn't want to play with the others.

Jaden would agree wholeheartedly, but Mattie would just give her a noncommittal shrug and follow anyways.

His mommy said he had picked up those words from his daddy, who was "the most noncommittal person in the world." Whatever that meant. Mattie just never cared enough to say "yes" or "no." So when Jaden had come up to him that day on the playground, he just didn't care to tell him to go away. Who was he to tell Jaden he couldn't play in the sandbox?

After that Jaden just sort of…kept showing up. Mattie had been sure that the playing together had been a one-time deal and that Jaden would forget about him in favor of one of the kids that was more active or talkative, but Jaden surprised him by coming back day after day. He had even gotten upset when Mattie got sick and didn't show up to daycare for three days.

Their days at daycare grew into weekends of play dates, and eventually Mattie began to accept Jaden as a permanent fixture in his life.

Which was what prompted him to take the time to observe the more active child and learn more about him.

By the time they had been friends for one full year, Mattie knew the signs for when Jaden was up to something. He'd start squinting his blue eyes in thought, and his nostrils would become huge. His lips would tighten and quirk up to one side when he had a plan.

For some reason, Mattie was the only one capable of spotting those signs before the crime was committed, so he wasn't surprised when he saw Jaden pulling a heavy bucket across the playground towards him. Mattie sat silently swaying on the swings when a panting Jaden finally reached him. "Meanie-head?"

"Meanie-head," Jaden repeated back without hesitation as he put the bucket at Mattie's feet. "Meanie-head" was the oh-so-creative name the two had given the bigger boy who had recently come to stay at their daycare. The first day he had arrived, he hadn't hesitated to make fun of Mattie's red hair and freckles. Jaden had taken personal offense to the teasing, especially when Mattie had tentatively asked him later if it looked like he had "a gazillion little dots trying to eat his face."

Nothing had happened to Meanie-head that day because Jaden was too busy convincing Mattie that his freckles looked fine and running around doing damage control in the wake of the bully. It was the first time that Mattie had seen the big people completely useless. Usually they were able to spot the signs of distress and the reasons behind it, but if they were aware of Meanie-head's bullying, then he would have been timeout a lot more times than Jaden.

Meanie-head just did not believe Jaden's promises of payback if he continued to be mean like he was. Since the kid had showed up a month ago, the children of the 2-3 Age Class had rallied behind Jaden. The smallest kid was the only one who was willing to stand up and not cower from the bigger than average three year old. They looked up to Jaden to do what the big people couldn't.

And Jaden was about to do just that. Meanie-head had gone too far with picking on Precious, the little girl who always carried her baby doll around. Robin (the leader of the trio of girls Jaden had met on his first day) was home sick that day and unable to keep the Meanie-head from picking on her quieter friend. He had waited until the big people were distracted by a crying kid who had fallen off the slide before making a beeline for the little girl sitting beside the door and playing by herself as she waited for her other friend to return from the bathroom.

Words were exchanged by the two, and Jaden had been ready to take off across the playground from where he and Mattie had been playing when Precious started shaking her head and trying to get away. But Meanie-head had been quick and snatched her doll away before throwing it on the ground, stomping on it, and running away before any of the big people could see him around the now crying girl.

Mattie had seen Jaden's eyes squinting, his nostrils flaring, and his lips tightening and quirking, which had led to this moment of Jaden sneakily pouring his bucket of water onto the dirt behind the swings after moving all the wood stuff that covered the playground. Mattie wasn't exactly sure where Jaden had gotten the water as he had been given the duty of distracting Miss Sammy while Jaden did his mischievous work, but knowing Jaden, it had probably come from somewhere he shouldn't have been.

The water splashed onto the dirt, and a river of it trickled beneath Mattie's swing. Using his tiptoes to touch the ground, Mattie twisted the swing around to watch Jaden use his hands to mix the water and dirt. "Wha' we doin'?"

"Givin' da Meanie-head a taste o' his own medicine!" Jaden answered. He took two handfuls of mud and held them up with a poor imitation of the kind of laughing their favorite cartoon villains did. He looked to Mattie afterwards, but the redhead shook his head. Evil laughs sounded like uncontrollable giggles from Jaden—not scary at all. Jaden shrugged and went back to putting handfuls of mud into the bucket.

When the bucket was half-full, Jaden turned back to Mattie and grinned. Mattie's eyes widened at that grin. Oh no. That was the "Mattie isn't going to like this plan" smile. Yet he couldn't bring himself to care enough to say no to that grin.

**~:0:~**

Yep, Mattie knew he wouldn't like this. But at least he now knew that he was faster than Meanie-head.

"Get back here butt-hole!" Meanie-head yelled from behind, but instead of slowing, Mattie went _faster._ Going up and randomly shoving a bigger kid down was _not _a good idea. They seemed to take it very personally.

His lungs were working overtime by the time he reached the slide that Jaden had told him to run to. He hoped his friend's plan worked because he was starting to get tired and didn't know how much longer he could keep going.

Mattie barely noticed the others kids were staying away from the slide, which was odd because usually they we're climbing all over each other for a chance on it. If he _had_ noticed, he would have realized that the other kids were keeping the big people away by providing a through distraction that involved yelling, crying, shoving, and all around demanding attention. Who would notice two stray kids chasing each other when they had about twenty crowding around them?

The ginger dashed under the slide and slowed to a stop when he heard a loud cry from behind him. He turned to see Meanie-head's head hidden by the bucket Jaden had stuffed the mud in earlier with the mud slipping down his body in gooey looking clumps. Jaden came rocketing down the slide and grabbed Mattie's hand in a mad dash to the playhouse, where he locked them safely inside and sneakily peeked out the window to watch his work.

Meanie-head was throwing the bucket aside and aggressively wiping the mud from his eyes. When he was finally able to see, Jaden and Mattie watched in surprise as he did the last thing they had expected him to do. Instead of getting angry and yelling or kicking the bucket across the playground or finding the closest person to hit, Meanie-head burst into loud cries, his tears leaving clear trails down his cheeks as he ran back to the classroom.

Kids immediately parted to let him through while the adults fell onto him with worry. The ones who had been picked on ever since the bully's arrival cheered as they watched him be taken into the classroom by two of the ladies who watched them. Even Mattie felt a justified smile flit across his face until he saw Jaden.

Jaden had an unamused frown on his face as Meanie-head was taken away, and his fists were clenched on the window. He looked least happy of all, and usually he displayed extreme happiness when his plans worked. Mattie reached out to poke his friend. "Wha' wrong Jaden?"

"He's cwyin'," Jaden answered softly as he left the playhouse. "He wasn' s'posed ta cwy…"

Mattie ran out after him. "He's a meanie-head!"

"But he's _cwyin',"_ Jaden repeated as he looked back at his friend with serious blue eyes. "Just like Pwecious…"

Mattie kept quiet when they spotted Miss Sammy walking towards them, and she didn't look very happy. Like she already knew that they had something to do with the mud. Sammy kneeled down in front of them and looked at each boy critically. "Jaden, Mattie. Do you know who dumped the mud on Ian?"

Mattie could see the slump in Jaden's stature and knew that he wouldn't hesitate to give himself up. So Mattie stepped up to answer before he could. "No. We-we was playin' in the house 'cause…'cause Robby's no' here to keep us out."

Sammy looked surprised by the fact that it was _Mattie_, the quietest child at the daycare, who had stood up to answer her. She took one last look at Jaden before nodding and left to tend to the other children now back to running around.

Mattie watched her leave and turned back to see Jaden looking at him critically. "Why 'ou lie? Mommy say lyin' bad."

The redhead frowned. This was why his normal answers involved "I don't know." Normally when he responded that way, people didn't ask him any further questions. They just left him alone. Mama would just put his normal chicken tenders in his lunch bag; Ms. Jaden's Mommy would just smile and say she hoped he had a good day; and Miss Sammy just let him do what he wanted. Why couldn't Jaden just be happy he didn't get in trouble?

Mattie finally decided to answer by heavily putting his hand on Jaden's shoulder. "'Cause you my fwiend, an' he deserve it. Meanie-head won' mess with nobody no more…but don' do mean things to nice people…only if it's funny."

Mattie resigned himself to the death squeeze Jaden gave him before his friend perked up and ran over to talk to Precious, who was better now that her baby doll had been cleaned up and her friend was with her. Mattie dutifully followed him, not really caring what they did as long he could stay with Jaden.

Jaden was his best friend; he wanted them to stay that way. And friends helped each other stay out of trouble.

Besides, Meanie-head really had deserved it after Mattie had stopped him from pouring paint on Jaden's lunch earlier.


	11. Adopted

Rebirth

Chapter Ten

Adopted

* * *

"Mommy, wha' 'dopted mean?"

Lorraine almost missed her son's question on noisy public bus. But she heard it, and all she could do was blink down at her three year old with surprise. Where had he heard that word? It wasn't like the word was taboo around the house, but Lorraine had never seen the point of using it. Why would she introduce Jaden to new people as her "_adopted_ son"? It was just an adjective that didn't need to there.

"Where'd you hear that sweetie?" she asked, petting his head as he leaned up against her side and looked up at her with his big blue eyes that never seemed to fade over time.

"Sammy told me," Jaden answered sweetly. "Ah ask her why Ah not gotta daddy like Mattie, an' she say it 'cause Ah 'dopted. Is it a bad word? 'Cause Sammy look like she in twouble when she say it, like when Ah say bad words like-like suck."

Lorraine couldn't help but laugh as the exact expression he was trying to describe flitted across his face. "No, it's not a bad word. Sammy just probably thought I didn't want you to know yet. Adopted just means when a baby don't got any parents, he gets new ones."

Jaden nodded and looked up at her quizzically. "But Ah not 'dopted! Ah gotta mommy."

Lordy, Lorraine had hoped that this conversation wouldn't happen until Jaden was a little older and better able to understand. She sighed and continued to pet his head. "Yes sweetie, you gotta mommy. But when I found you, you were all alone, so I became your mommy. Why'd you wanna know why you don't have a daddy? Do you want one?"

Jaden vehemently shook his head, which made the woman laugh. "No! Mattie says his daddy spank him when he do somethin' bad. Ah don' wanna spankin'!"

"I should probably spank _you _for all the trouble you cause." Lorraine's smile widened when her son's eyes grew to the size of saucers. "But I believe my methods are more effective than spanking. I teach ya how to feel guilty for the bad things you do."

"Wha' guilty mean?"

"It's that feelin' you get when you do somethin' bad and you _know_ it's bad, like an upset tummy. Has _your_ tummy been upset today?"

The little boy subconsciously reached down to touch his stomach. "No…"

"You sure? I'm still lookin' for those lil' kitchen people who spilled the milk all over the floor this morning."

Lorraine casually looked around the bus at the other passengers until she felt a tug on her shirt. A guilty Jaden refused to look up at her. "Ah sorry mommy. Ah spill da milk dis mornin'. Ah just wanted ta make some choc'ate milk!"

She smiled and pulled the boy into her lap to hug him. "I know, I know. You migh' be adopted, but you never forgot that _I'm_ your mama no matter what. And a mama _always_ knows when her baby's lyin'. You can ask Bobby all 'bout that the next time they visit." She squeezed him tightly. "But you don't ever need to feel the like you have to lie to me. Whatever the truth might be, I'll forgive you because I love you."

"Love you too mommy," Jaden said as he snuggled back.

Lorraine smiled down at him and held him for the rest of the bus ride. Jaden was just as much her son as Bobby was, and telling others he was adopted was just unnecessary.

* * *

**AN:** Jaden...you so adorable :3

No updates this weekend (not even surprise ones). I'm seriously working on my other story and doing a bibliography for class...that I should have done two weeks ago. Procrastinator + college does not equal a good combination. And that is my pearl of wisdom for the day ;)


	12. Glasses

**AN:** I made a mistake yesterday, and I apologize to any follower who might have gotten a message saying that this updated yesterday. Technically it _did_ update…with a chapter from my other story. Fortunately I was able to catch my mistake right after making it, so I didn't get any awkward "Uh, what is this?" kind of messages. But I felt _really_ bad because I knew a message had gone out saying it was updated when it was really just a dumb mistake on my part.

So…yeah. Here's an update that I tried to post yesterday in lieu of my mistake but got put off 'til today because I had more important things to do…like watching _The Walking Dead_ and doing enough of my classwork to not feel terrible with myself :)

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Eleven

Glasses

* * *

Jaden had always wanted to go to the beach since seeing it on TV, but his mommy always told him that it was too far away or she didn't have the money to pay for a trip like that. So when Mattie had shyly asked him if he wanted to go with his family, Jaden had eagerly said yes. Unfortunately, mommy wouldn't let him go. He had thrown his first really big tantrum and cried really, really, _really_ loudly, but mommy had stood firm.

"_It's their family vacation Jaden," _she had told him once he had finally calmed down to sniffles. _"Mattie probably didn't understand that is just somethin' him and his mama and daddy do. Plus, there aint no way on God's green earth that I'm about to let you go off on a trip without me. Boy, you stuck with me 'til you turn eighteen and move out!"_

So, Jaden had had to contend for week without Mattie. Playing with the other kids at the Little People Academy just wasn't the same during that long week without Mattie trailing silently behind him. Jaden hadn't ever realized how big of a part Mattie was during his day. Not even Sammy could cheer him up at snack time when there was no one to share his graham crackers and juice box with.

When the day came that Mattie returned, Jaden didn't even take the time to say goodbye to his mommy before he sprinted across the room to squeeze the life out of the familiar redhead. He jumped back in surprise when his friend screamed in pain and awkwardly spun turned around to see him. Jaden couldn't help but giggle when he saw his friend's face. "Mattie, why you face as wed as you hair?"

Mattie blinked at him owlishly, making him giggle more at how the white rings around his friend's eyes made them seem bigger. "Daddy forgo' to put more sunscreen on me when we at the beach. Mama didn' go 'cause she buwn a lot. Mama wasn't there to wemember." The burned redhead frowned when his friend laughed. "No' funny! It huwt!"

Jaden sobered at that and poked at the bright red skin on Mattie's arm, making the other boy flinch away in pain. "Ah sowwy. When you ge' betta'?"

"Mama put cold, sticky stuff on me. Makes huwt go 'way. Mama give some to Miss Sammy to put on la'er." Jaden resisted the temptation to poke the red skin again as Mattie turned away to reach for his bag. "I bring back stuff from the beach!"

This caught the mischievous child's attention, and he crowded the ginger to get a better look at the things hidden within the bag. First, Mattie pulled out a huge shell that made Jaden "Ooh" in genuine awe. "This a…uh…seashell that…um…somethin' use to live in. It go' painted a pretty orange, an' daddy buy it for me."

Mattie carefully put it to the side and sent one boy a glare when he tried to come over and touch it. Jaden studiously ignored his friend's sudden change in behavior and bent down to try and see inside the bag's opening. "Wha' else you got?"

The next thing to be pulled out was a rigid star, and Jaden stared at it wide-eyed. "It's a star!"

"Daddy says it a starfish. Feel it." Jaden giggled at the scratchy skin of the starfish and twirled it around as Mattie reached into his bag for another item. "It died…bu' daddy buy it for me too. It cool."

By the time it was time to go out to the playground, Mattie had shown off the majority of his souvenirs and the pictures that had been taken with a brief explanation to each and a glare to anyone who dared try to touch his things without his permission. Jaden "Ooh"ed and "Ahh"ed like he was expected to and poked anything he was allowed to. He was twirling a piece of "pirate booty" when Mattie pulled out the last item form his trip and handed it to him. "I ask daddy to ge' somethin' for you too Jaden. I picked them out 'specially for you."

Jaden flung the pirate booty onto the table and practically snatched the blue rimmed glasses from his best friend. He had never received a present outside of his birthday or Christmas, so this was a moment to be cherished…and the moment passed in the split second after he held them.

Jaden eagerly put the glasses over the eyes and gasped as everything went slightly darker. Mattie waited patiently for his friend to look at everything in the new lighting before taking his own orange rimmed sunglasses and putting them on. "Now we match!"

The little boy giggled at his friend's cool looking shades and moved to hug him. "Thank 'ou Mattie. It's da bestes' gift _ever."_

"Owie."

"Sowwy!"

Samantha, who stood on the other side of the room picking up toys, shook her head as she watched the two boys run outside to join the rest of the class and show off their matching sunglasses. She had a feeling that the rest of the summer would consist of showing those same glasses off every day.

Who could have imagined that two pairs of cheap beach sunglasses would start a fad with both adults and children at the Little People Academy?

* * *

**AN:** Jaden's first pair of sunglasses…for some reason that just seems like one of those "milestones" of his life meant to documented ;) And again, I'm sorry about the false chapter update, and I'll try to actually pay better attention to what I'm doing next time.


	13. Competition

Rebirth

Chapter Twelve

Competition

* * *

Sammy had a boyfriend.

Jaden was not all too pleased to overhear her talking about him when he was _supposed _to be lying down for his "quiet time" instead of sneaking around the childcare center with the ever silent Mattie tailing him. Sammy might not have been in charge of him anymore since he got moved to the "big boy class," but she was still _his_ Sammy, just like mommy and Mattie, and everyone in the Little People Academy knew that.

He didn't like the idea of his Sammy being taken away from him again.

So when he heard that Sammy's "boyfriend" would be coming to the daycare to entertain the little kids, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to size up his competition. Leaving loyal Mattie behind to distract the old lady who watched them now, Jaden crept down the hallway with a stealthy finesse that surprised people who didn't know him. Unfortunately, the people around here had almost grown use to him, so he had a couple of close calls as an adult randomly patrolled the hallway.

He eventually made it to his old classroom and peeked through the clear glass of the door and into the room. His lips puckered in thought as he saw a new man standing in the corner with a guitar, singing to the little kids jumping around him with unrestrained joy…the situation was worse than he had originally thought. His new enemy knew how to play a _guitar._

Who wouldn't love someone who could play guitar?

Alright, round one went to the butthead trying to take his Sammy, but that didn't mean Jaden was out yet! He still had his über cute looks that always had Sammy fawning over him…when he wasn't in trouble. She had a thing about not fawning over him when he was in trouble, dropping his "Jadey-poo" nickname and replacing it with "Ja-_den"_ while putting her hands on her hips in the scary stance that mommy took when she was _really_ mad. Sammy wasn't as scary as mommy yet…but she was getting there.

Speaking of Sammy, why she wasn't anywhere in the classroom?

"Ja-_den."_

Jaden froze and worked his puckered pout into a sweet smile before turning to see his Sammy standing behind him, hands on her hips and the "I'm-not-pleased" scowl on her face. She shook her head at his smile, signaling that his cuteness wouldn't get him out of trouble this time. "Jaden, haven't we talked about this before? You have to stay with Mrs. Reynolds now. You're a big boy! And big boys stay in the big boy class until Aftercare."

"But," Jaden stuttered up at her before pointing uselessly into the classroom. "But he…"

Samantha followed the path of his finger and her scowl seemed to fade instantly into a smile. "Oh! I see now. You must have overheard me talking to the others about Zach. Oh Jadey-poo, I wouldn't have let you miss out on meeting your first musician! He was going to stay until you came to see me after your big boy class." Samantha paused and looked down the hallway before sighing. "Come on. You might as well meet him now. It's not like it's the first time you've snuck off, and she probably won't even notice you're gone."

Jaden took the hand she offered him and almost smirked victoriously. See? _See?_ She was still his Sammy. Suck on that _Zach._

Mommy would be _so _mad if she could hear his mean thoughts right now.

The noise that had been muffled by the door grew louder as Samantha led him into the familiar classroom. One of her friends shook her head without surprise as she spotted Jaden, and Samantha just smiled knowingly. It really wasn't the first time that Jaden had snuck out of his Pre-K class to come see her, sometimes even dragging little Matthew with him. They _almost_ had a betting pool of how long it would take Jaden to crack his teachers once he moved up to the public school system. But betting in front of the toddlers would be a bad example…

Samantha led Jaden to the back of the little audience that surrounded her boyfriend, who was now stringing them along into the classic "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." He smiled broadly at her, and she felt her heart flutter like it always did.

Jaden scowled at the goofy grin that made its home on his Sammy's face.

Samantha remained ignorant of the scowl on Jaden's face as she watched Zach wrap up music time with a silly rendition of "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" and clapped at the end to gain the giggling children's attention. "Alright, who's ready for color time?"

All of the toddlers groaned and some even protested to being nudged in the direction of the next activity that had been set up, but nonetheless, Zach was soon clear of little people and able to finally flop down into a chair with a sigh of relief. "Alright, alright. I take back everything I said about your job being a piece of cake. Playing with kids all day isn't as fun as I thought it was."

The woman released Jaden's hand to walk over and mockingly pat the man on the top of his short blond hair. "You poor man. Half an hour with the kids and you're ready to call it quits. Now, who was the one with the stressful job again?"

Zach groaned with an exaggerated head roll. "You're never going to let that go are you?"

Samantha giggled slightly before turning back to Jaden, who was pouting at being left out. Well, she couldn't have that. "Jaden come over here and meet Zach! I think you'll _really_ like him."

Zach watched the dark skinned child scowl at him and restrained the urge to grin. So this was _the_ Jaden. The little kid Samantha always had a story to tell about. A year into their relationship and she still came home with a new story of this Jaden sneaking into the snack cabinet or him and his friend disappearing and being found on the other side of the building with a dramatic set up of boxes, desks, and chairs to play "robot city." The kid sounded pretty interesting.

Though, he didn't really look very happy now.

"Hey little man," Zach said as he situated his guitar on his lap so that he could politely hold a hand out to shake. A four-year old should know how to shake by now, right? "I've heard a lot about you."

A disruption on the other side of the classroom prevented Samantha from seeing the extreme scowl that graced Jaden's face, but Zach saw it, and his eyebrows shot up in response. The woman was none-the-wiser and urged them together with a few hand gestures before running over to help her friend with two children fighting over a blue crayon.

Zach awkwardly tapped his fingers against his guitar while Jaden continued to scowl up at him. "So…cool shades little man. I like the, uh, design on them. Blue flames are always cooler than red ones." He sucked in a noisy breath when the boy's scowl didn't falter and rubbed the side of his nose for lack of anything to do. He moved to strum his guitar when an idea came to him. "Sam says you're a real music man. She thought it could be a good idea if I taught you how to play guitar."

Jaden's scowl lessened into a thoughtful frown. Yes, he really _did_ want to learn how to play a musical instrument (more than just banging on a toy drum or shacking a bottle of rice), but he hadn't expected his newfound rival to offer to teach him. This could be a major advantage for him! When he learned how to play guitar, Sammy wouldn't need this Zach man to play for her.

There was only one problem.

"Ah don' gotta g'itar," Jaden said while trying to mimic the big people's "not pleased" look.

The corner of Zach's lips twitched with a restrained smile as he watched the boy awkwardly put his fists on his hips. He reached behind the chair and pulled out the small guitar he had stashed there earlier. "Then it's a good thing Sam told me about you ahead of time. This was my first guitar, so it's a little banged up but it's perfect for a new beginner."

Jaden's eyes widened behind his sunglasses, and he snatched the guitar away from the blond man. He awkwardly pulled the strap over his head and settled it on his shoulder before slightly growling at the realization that the instrument hung upside down. Zach chuckled (much to Jaden's annoyance) and reached out to help the four-year old properly hold the guitar. When that was fixed, he leaned back and positioned his fingers on the strings of his guitar. "I've never tried to teach kids, so I guess we should start with nursery rhymes or something?"

Zach blinked when the boy's nose scrunched up with displeasure at the familiar tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb." "Dat fo' _lil' kids!_ Ah a big boy!"

"Alright, alright. No need to get your diaper in a bunch-"

"Ah wear big boy un'erwear!"

"Okay; sorry. Just…why don't you think of a song and I'll try to show you how to play it."

Jaden nodded at the agreeable terms and began to rack his little head for a song. There were so many he wanted to try out! If only he could remember the name of his records at home. While Jaden tried to remember the names, Zach began to fiddle with his own guitar for lack of anything to do.

He wondered if this kid was as sneaky and mischievous as Samantha talked about or if that was just an over exaggeration. It _was_ pretty impressive for him to be able to sneak out of his classroom undetected, and his teacher hadn't come to get him yet. So that either meant she didn't notice he was gone, or this was just such a common occurrence that she didn't feel bothered to collect him until the classes came together on the playground outside. Sam had told that more often than not that was when the little rascal returned, undetected, back to his class. That was a very good system.

"Dat one!"

Zach was embarrassed to admit that Jaden's sudden yell made him visibly jump in surprise. Jaden was pointing at his guitar insistently, his sunglasses slipping down his nose to reveal his bright blue eyes. The man blinked as those very eyes stared at him expectantly. "What?"

"Dat song!" Jaden repeated while moving his guitar to the same position as Zach's. "Ah wanna learn dat one. Mommy say it first song Bobby learned ta play 'fore he stop. It called…Water Smoke!"

Jaden looked so proud at remembering the name that Zach didn't have the heart to tell him it was actually "Smoke on the Water." At least he knew what the name was; that was saying a lot for a little kid. "Good choice. The riff is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Here, put you the tip of your index finger on this-"

"Which one da index finga'?"

"This one," Zach said, wiggling his index finger at Jaden. "The one you point with. Put the tip of it on the top string, which is called the E string, and put your finger on the third fret. No, those little lines on the neck of the guitar. Now strum the string with your other hand and move your finger to the sixth fret. Can you count to six yet? You can? Good. Bring it down to the sixth –no, that's the fifth. Use the dots to keep track of your numbers. Alright so slid your fingers down starting at three, then six, then eight. Then we're going to do it again only we go to nine and _then _eight. Got that? No, no, no. Squirt you go to the sixth fret, not the fifth."

"You're confusin' me!"

"I'm sorry! I've never taught a little kid before!"

"Ah no' a lil' kid. Ah a big boy!"

"You're smaller than me shrimp. That's all that counts."

Jaden scowled but let the insult slide as he went back to fingering the strings of his new guitar. He would put up with this man until he could properly play the guitar. But then his rival would have to go. Sammy wouldn't need him after Jaden knew how to play her songs with a proper instrument.

And no, it did not matter that by the time recess started that Jaden was actually starting to like Sammy's boyfriend. Or that he was one of the few people that Mattie actually talked to when the redhead showed up to find his friend…or that both mommy and Sammy had been happy to see him happily getting along with Zach by the time his mommy came to pick him up.

'Cause Zach was his rival now…until he thought the man _worthy_ of his Sammy. Which wasn't going to happen. Ever.


	14. The Cycle Continues

**AN:** Sorry about the wait! I've been sitting on this chapter for two days now because I was trying to decide whether or not I wanted to go in this direction. I probably found a way to contradict myself from chapter one, but I figured when Jaden started to really remember being Jazz that he would need someone around who really understood what he was going through ;)

**Warnings:** slight language and vaguely crude humor

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Thirteen

The Cycle Continues

* * *

Lorraine watched the morning news with barely restrained horror, her hand mechanically coming up to cover her mouth. The newswoman—her hair all done up perfectly, collar starched to perfection, and a teleprompter feeding her words to her—acted as if the footage of giant robots appearing from nowhere and taking on disguises like _fire trucks_ and _ambulances_ was nothing but an elaborate joke. She was even laughing with her cohost about the footage most likely becoming one of the year's most popular viral video.

The woman looked down at the phone in her shaky hand and dialed the number for Bobby's cellphone. She cursed when the same voice she had been hearing for the past hour informed her of the line being busy and threw the wireless phone onto the couch. Every number she dialed seemed to be busy at the exact same time. Bobby, Monique, Mr. Lennox, even the number Bobby had given her in case of an…_out of this world_ kind of problem.

She didn't like this. Not one bit. This wasn't a _joke_ like the people on the TV wanted to make it out to be. _They _hadn't lived through something like this before and barely escaped with their lives.

And from the looks of it, things were going to get a lot worse before it got better.

"Mommy!"

Lorraine quickly turned the TV off just as Jaden came running into the room, his gifted guitar safe in its bag and snugly settled across his back while his bright green robot toy was tightly clutched in his hand. He didn't notice his mother's worried stance as he dropped to the floor to search beneath the furniture. "Mommy, have you seen my I'nhide? Ah can only fin' Watchet."

"Sorry baby," Lorraine answered as calmly as she could. "You shoulda picked your toys up last night like I told you to."

"Ah did!" Jaden insisted as he sat up to look at her. "Ah put him in the box un'er my bed with Watchet an' Mr. Nannas, but he wasn't dere dis mornin'!"

Lorraine shook her head while helping him stand back up and straightening his shirt. "We'll just have to look for him tonight. If we miss the bus, we'll be waitin' another hour before we can go to Samantha's place, and you don't wanna miss your weekend lesson with Mr. Zach do you?"

Jaden vehemently shook his head and took his mother's hand as they left apartment, leaving his Watchet toy behind on the coffee table alone.

**~:0:~**

Que's optics winked as he took in his surroundings. Just moments ago he had been standing in the ruined human city of Chicago, staring up into the manic red optics of the Decepticon Barricade. He had to admit, with the many ways to…well, die, a quick blast to the spark might have been the least painful.

He never really thought about how he would go. Although in his defense, who really thought about that? Anyway, he had figured that Ratchet would finally get tired of him blowing himself up and…nah. Ratchet was a grouchy mech, but he took his position seriously and would do everything he could before letting someone die on his table.

Speaking of the CMO, Que couldn't help the feelings of sadness at the thought of him. Poor Ratchet—he'd lost two close friends in the span of only three days. He hoped that Optimus would be able to deal with how grouchy he would be for the next few months. Sideswipe would probably get the brute of his upset emotions, not that the front-liner couldn't take a "love tap" to the helm. Dino would probably be smacked a few times too for his arrogant attitude. Bumblebee, on the other hand, was smart and able to avoid angering the medic, which was good because Ratchet would need someone that wouldn't tempt him to knock them out with a wrench.

…this place was so pretty. It just seemed to be in a state of constant change, creating little auroras of green, and pink, and blue, and so many other colors the he couldn't even name. It created a nostalgic, floating feeling inside him as he watched the swirls of colors just fly by. He didn't fell like analyzing their composition, or trying to figure out the conditions that created the auroras…or how he could invent a machine to mimic it. That would be neat though.

No, he just watched the occurrence and felt at peace. The Well of Sparks was better than he had ever imagined…

Que's nostalgia was suddenly broken as a strong grabbed his shoulders and yanked him to a stand. His helm buzzed at the sudden change in position and he had to reset his optics a few times before they cleared of static. Even then he had to reset them a few more times just to be sure he wasn't imagining the mech in front of him.

"It's 'bout time you got here," the former Weapons Specialist grunted, unfazed by Que's surprise with seeing him. "I've been waitin' here forever with just _them_ for company. You can't imagine how many times I wished to die _again."_

"Now dat's jus' cold man."

"Yeah! It aint like you' aft any more enjoyable ta be 'round."

Que leaned to the side to see Skids and Mudflap standing not far behind Ironhide. The twins seemed to be casually lounging on thin air as if they hadn't died only two days earlier from a concentrated blast of cosmic rust.

"Wha-"

Ironhide chuckled and gave the scientist a friendly slap on the shoulder that sent the mech staggering. "I felt the same way when I woke up here. He said we had to wait 'til the end of the battle 'fore goin' on to the Well. Primus works in strange ways, and can come up with agonizing tests of your faith. Like _them_ for instant."

"You aint a field o' daisies either."

"Mo'e like a pit o' Scraplets…dat were starved."

Que quietly snickered at Ironhide's annoyed growl and the twin's high-five before they started rolling on the ground hitting each other. Even in death the twins exhibited their normal behavior.

"Wait here?" Que finally asked while the younger Autobots continued to roll around yelling insults at each other. "Why did you have to wait? I thought this was the Well of Sparks."

"So did I. 'Cept Primus pops up after I've been floatin' here a while and said I'd have to wait a while 'fore goin' on. Then he leaves me with these half-pints. Was actually startin' to get use to this place too."

Que glanced around at the pretty lights. He always had an affinity to pretty lights…especially red ones. Except that usually meant something was about to go "boom," so others could never really appreciate the red shiny lights he put on most of his inventions. It was a sad fact…

"Ow naw man! Dis aint coo'!"

The scientist shook his helm and noticed for the first time that the space the Autobots occupied had just become a tad more crowded. Skids and Mudflap were currently bucking up at Sentinel Prime, shooting off crude insults that seemed to only make the old mech "roll" his optics; Starscream was pawing at his face and screeching about the abominating squishy that "destroyed his beautiful face"; and Shockwave stood stoically off to the side, watching them with his eerie red optic. Que stopped examining the newcomers when his optics landed on the scowling face of his killer. This little place of "limbo" wasn't so nice anymore.

"Oh would you _shut up,_" Sentinel finally growled at the midget twins. "I did not die to listen to your crude prattling."

"Dis you' punishment!"

"Yeah! You stuck wit' us."

"We like dem human ghost or wha'ever."

The Prime huffed at how the diminutive mechs danced around him, making "oooh!" noises that he supposed were meant to signify these "ghosts," and looked over at Ironhide, who barely looked in his direction. "And what about you? Do you have some punishment you wish to inflict?"

Ironhide barely spared him a glance. "I think a _real_ Prime already took care of that."

Starscream snickered as Sentinel backed down to pout (in a "regal" manner of course). "I wished I had seen that. All your strut and talk and your very _student—_the one you were so positive would never stand a chance against you—was the one who killed you."

Barricade scowled at the Seeker's screechy cackles and swung at the pink aurora that swirled around him. "Where the frag are we? Just let me die and get this over with."

Que was almost tempted to analyze the bitter tone of the Decepticon but shoved the thought to the back of his processor. He too was starting to wonder how much longer this would take. He didn't like sharing a space with his killer.

"Ow! Da hell man?"

"You da one trippin' on _me."_

Starscream's cackling turned into high-pitched screeches as he was bowled over by a pair of roughhousing twins, and Ironhide rubbed his nose in a very human manner. "I'm startin' to think this is what the human's call 'hell.' The twins I could deal with—Lord Screech-a-Lot's voice is a completely different manner."

Barricade resisted the urge to chuckle. He didn't chuckle at Autobot jokes. Meanwhile, Sentinel had finished his pouting and was looking around with curiosity. "I remember this place. I was here before the Matrix fully revived me. I was told that it was not my time yet. I suppose I will not hear the same thing this time."

The space seemed to fill with an indescribable presence, making the mechs instinctively pause. Barricade was the first to move, attempting to activate the weapons he always had hidden on his person. Ironhide snorted when he noticed this. "It's pointless. Our weapons were left behind. Trust me—if I had them I would've used them on your ugly aft by now."

Humor radiated from the invisible presence, and Que couldn't help but chuckle. At least Primus seemed to have a sense of humor. But he was worried. Why hadn't they gone directly to the Well of Sparks? Unlike the humans, they had no religious doctrines that described places like "heaven" or "hell." Upon deactivation, all Cybertronian life returned from which they had been conceived: the Well of Sparks. Perhaps _this_ was really the Well. He didn't actually know what it was supposed to look like.

"Alright, it's over," Ironhide said to the air around him. Que blinked with disapproval at the Weapons Specialist's tone. You didn't talk to _Primus_ that way. "Why did we have to wait for _them_? Not that I mind Que, but _them?"_

"The Autobot and Decepticon factions were an invention of your own." The new mechs, with the exception of Sentinel Prime, jumped at the sound of the disembodied voice. Starscream even released a whimper before clamping a servo over his mouth. "All of my children are equal in my eyes."

Que nervously tapped the tips of his fingers together. "Bu-but why are we here? I was under the impression there were no pit stops on the way to the Well of Sparks."

"It got anythin' ta do wit' dat kid?" Skids asked he pointed in a random direction behind him. The Autobot scientist jumped in surprise as he finally noticed a little section that was different than the rest of the place. It was almost like a TV without sound, two actually.

On one was the image of Chicago and the remaining Autobots and humans. Bumblebee was crouched beside his two charges, gesturing wildly around as Sam smiled indulgently and the blonde woman appeared to giggle. Ratchet had cornered Optimus and was swatting at him while clamping off severed Energon lines and sparking wires from the Prime's severed arm. The others seemed to be assisting the humans in pre-cleanup of the city, Sideswipe and Dino carefully placing Que's remains off to the side for a proper burial at a later date. He'd probably be honored with Ironhide and the twins.

The other "TV" was much more innocent. It depicted a young, dark skinned human boy with a pair of star shaped sunglasses that barely stayed on his head as he jumped from one couch to another. An older blond man followed him to the other couch, holding the guitar he held high in a rock star pose which the little boy mimicked him with silent laughter. Suddenly the two stopped and dropped into sitting positions, growing serious as they strummed their guitars. The little boy waved at a brunette who appeared in the entrance of the room while the man looked sheepishly at her knowing stance.

"Aw. Now aint dat cute?"

"Lil' man knows how ta rock. Gonna be gettin' all da femmes."

"Dat's right. Gonna get all da pu-"

"Must everything your diminutive processors spit out be vulgar?" Shockwave interrupted, reminding everyone that he was still here. "If this is what death has to offer then I would rather suffer through all of eternity in a vat of acid that slowly and painfully corrodes my protoform."

Skids and Mudflap looked at each other before the red twin snorted. "He jus' mad 'cause he los' his _boyfriend _ta ol' timer."

Both Ironhide and Starscream burst into laughter at the scandalous look on Sentinel's face while the others just shook their heads or scoffed. For a moment they forgot they stood in limbo with a deity that some of them didn't even believe in before this moment.

Except Que, who continued to nervously tap his fingers. "This child…I believe one of the NEST soldiers had a picture of him. Yes! A umm…Robert Epps! Before he went to work with the Wreckers. Every once in a while he'd get some new pictures of his children. That little boy was one of them."

Ironhide nodded. "Yeah, he'd have weird little competitions with Will on whose kid took the better picture. Annabelle always won of course."

"What's a puny little human have to do with us?" Barricade growled as he turned to glare at the image of Sideswipe comically poking his dead body with a metal pole while a small group of humans laughed.

"He may be your chance at redemption."

There was a moment of silence before Barricade suddenly snorted. "You've got to be kidding me."

Sentinel shook his head as well and stepped towards the images of the boy and man enthusiastically bouncing around the apartment again. He chuckled. "Is this why Optimus was so desperate to convince me of the humans' worth? We are being put into the bodies of these animals upon deactivation?"

"No, you are being given a choice," the voice continued. Que shuffled a bit as he looked for the source of that voice. It was odd to speak to someone who didn't have a face to look at. "A choice that would not have even been offered if it had not been for the short conversation I had with my last descendent while he visited me. He voiced a very compelling argument that others should receive another chance as Jazz has. I compromised with my child. Those who have died before their time will be offered this new path."

"Wait a minute," Ironhide started incredulously as he pointed to where the child was now seriously concentrating on plucking the strings of his guitar. "That little boy, Epps' adopted brother, is –was _Jazz?"_

"Does it truly matter?" Shockwave interrupted, much to the Autobot's irritation. "I have no regret for the actions I took while alive. I seek no road to redemption. Allow me to return the Well of Sparks."

A sad acceptance washed over them before Shockwave suddenly vanished. The twins voiced a loud yell of surprise at the Decepticon's sudden disappearance, but the others didn't seem to care. Sentinel continued to watch the images playing in front of him as Primus continued. "There are three more of you have died before you were meant to. The others…cannot return to the land of the living."

"Dat coo'," Mudflap said as he slowly counted off four mechs. "Dat means all us go back."

"Good job. You managed to count past two this time," Ironhide said mockingly while Skids laughed at his brother's expense. "But you still suck at math. There are seven of us now, and even then there are four Autobots."

"Yeah but…dey're _'Cons."_

"My children are all equal," the voice said empathetically, "and I wish them all the best. But the ability to choose your own path in life is a gift I grant you. Good, bad—I simply watch and guide those whose ask for it. Sadly, there are not many who ask for guidance now."

Que felt guilt at the sudden and old sadness washed over him. He was one of those mechs who had long since forgotten about Primus. Seeing war, watching close friends die, creating weapons that _killed_ others—there wasn't much time in the day to pray to a god that might not even exist.

He looked back at the devastated city of Chicago and the innocent Jazz-reborn now having a funny face contest with his current guardian. He could see Jazz in the child's abnormally fluid—yet still slightly jerky—movements and the twinkle in the eyes that peeked past his sunglasses. He was like a Jazz before the war…

"He doesn't remember a thing, does he?" Que concluded, shifting his attention to the former Prime, who still silently stared at the images. "Those of us who have the choice, if we choose to become…human, then we won't remember a thing about who we are."

"Probably a good thing," Ironhide muttered to himself. "Kid would be having nightmares if he remembered what Jazz…had to do."

"Jazz is Jaden as Jaden is Jazz," Primus said cryptically, which made Barricade snort again. "There are few things that I am unable to do. Fully separating the memories of a past life from one's soul appears to be impossible. The stronger memories will stay, but be buried within the subconscious mind. Jaden has witnessed some of these memories as dreams, but a child's mind is fragile and cannot take the haunting images of his past. I can keep these memories at bay until he is old enough to understand what they are—when he is old enough to understand who _Jazz_ is—and allow him to become the person he is meant to be."

Barricade snorted _again_. "I could care less that a special _Autobot_ got a second chance at life. I don't want to be one of those little worms."

"They're not that bad," Que piped up as if to defend the humans. "They're actually quite an extraordinary race when you stop to think about it. There are so many variations of their species, and many of them are very creative! Why, they are even able to defend themselves against a race that by all means should not even be _challenged_ by them. Point proven by…well, you didn't end up here because of your rivalry with Bumblebee."

The Decepticon scout snarled while Ironhide congratulated the scientist for his surprising jibe. Starscream would have snickered as well if his death hadn't been by those same uncivilized squishies, even though inwardly he was seriously contemplating the chance at a second life.

Even if he went back as human, second chances weren't handed out willy-nilly. Megatron was one of the few who had ever been resurrected after deactivation, and he royally screwed up his second life. Coming back to life only to have half of his helm almost immediately severed by a Prime, and then becoming the lackey of another? Lackey to _two_ Primes now that Starscream stopped to think about it, and both of those had fallen at the hand Optimus Prime.

But to have his memories erased? Now he could probably deal with being human if he had his memories (it made him shudder in revulsion, but he would have been able to manage it), but without memories…he wouldn't be Starscream! What was the point of going back when he wasn't even himself? That wasn't getting a second chance; that was…living someone else's life! No one was better than the mighty (skillful, handsome, cunning, talented, _inspiring)_ Starscream.

Nope, he'd go on to the Well as Starscream and awe the weaklings there with his mighty presence.

Mudflap comically hopped around as the space they occupied lost two more mechs. "Dis jus' gettin' weird. People poppin' all up in 'ere, an' jus' leavin' without sayin' bye. Rude motherfu-"

"Language dumb aft," Ironhide interrupted as he brought a fist down on the smaller mech's helm. For good measure, he did the same for the green twin. "What's wrong with you? Did you forget who you were in the presence of?"

"Primus accepts me as Ah am! We jus' mo'e special. Aint dat right?"

Warm humor filled the area, and Mudflap puffed up proudly. Skids fed off of his brother's pride and did the same, which left two shrimpy mechs comically poking their chests out. Ironhide threw his arms up as he finally gave up on the twins. "Whatever. I'm happy to know that Jazz was given a chance to live a life that actually made him happy. Not many noticed—I was one of the few along with Optimus—but he wasn't as cheerful as he pretended to be. I didn't know what he did in Special Ops, but it was things that no mech should be forced to do…which is why he did it. So, I'm glad he's able to sit there and smile without a care in the world."

"I sense your longing," Primus said. "Your mate is waiting for you."

Just like the others had done, Ironhide disappeared in the wink of an optic, though this time the twins didn't even flinch. In fact, they looked kind of happy that he was gone. "Dat leaves only two mo'e ol' timers."

"'Old timer,'" Que repeated in offense. "Now look here-"

"Hey! Where'd aft-Prime go?" Skids interrupted as he did a three-sixty. Sentinel was no longer standing in front of the "TVs" like he had been. Off to the Well of Sparks like everyone else because there was no way Sentinel would choose to become a part of the race he just attempted to enslave even he was given the option.

"Wha'eva'," Mudflap said. "Let's ge ou' human thang on! Make us handsome like lil' man."

"An' talented!"

"Get all da sexy femmes."

"Only you are able to go back," Primus said with a hint of sadness. "Skids was meant to sacrifice himself in order to protect Bumblebee. You, however, were not. Bumblebee was meant to stop you from attacking Sentinel head on, and you would have gone on to help my descendent create a permanent, _open_ home on Earth. Sadly, Bumblebee became distracted with protecting the humans and did not stop you in time."

The excitement of coming back to life vanished from the twins faces as they looked at each other. Skids shifted on his pedes and reached out to place a servo on his brother's shoulder. "It coo' bro. You go on an' be with lil' man. Ah'll…Ah'm coo' 'ere man."

"Wha'chu talkin' 'bout?" Mudflap asked vehemently as he shoved his brother away. "Ah aint goin' _nowhere_ wit'out you! 'Member all dat shit we went through with dat crazy 'Con dude 'fore comin' ta Earth? We promised we'd stick togetha after that. You tryin' ta make me a liar?"

Que couldn't help but feel surprised by the sheer loyalty Mudflap exhibited towards his brother. Split sparks—though even rarer than the already rare femme spark—were perhaps the closest bonds any mech or femme could have. But that didn't necessarily incite loyalty. Barricade was a good example of that. There was a reason why only a select few knew of Prowl's relation to the Decepticon. He wondered how the mech would react to having the bond severed so harshly by the death of his brother.

And then he realized he was alone…with Primus…this was awkward…

"Wheeljack." Que blinked at the name that he hadn't been called by since his reformatting on Earth. "You are the remaining Autobot who may return as a human. What will you choose?"

Talk about pressure. He either chose to stay dead or go back to live as a human with no memories. It would be interesting, to say the least, but Primus had said that some of Jazz's memories had not been able to be erased. What was to say the same would happen to him? And upon remembering his past life, how would he feel to be able to continue living while so many of his comrades stayed dead? He was old and one of the few from his age bracket left alive.

Honestly, he was just ready for a little peace.

"So that is your final decision," Primus said understandingly. "Then so be it. Continue on to the Well, my child, and find the peace you are searching for."

Que felt a strange pull on his spark and stuttered with unsated curiosity. "Wait, wait, wait! There was Mudflap, Shockwave and myself. Who was the final mech?"

The area pulsed with satisfaction and joy. "He has already accepted a chance at a new life and gone on to be guided by Jaden. I expect that their shared loved for music will be more influential now that they are not enemies."

Que felt pleased to have his curiosity satisfied and continued on to join the twins and Ironhide as well as the familiar faces of his old, long since deactivated friends.

**~:0:~**

Jaden giggled as he was swung through the air between Sammy and her boyfriend. Even at age five his small size still allowed him to be picked up and swung around with ease. With one hand in Zach's and the other in Sammy's, Jaden continued to skip down the sidewalk and enthusiastically swung over the cracks in the cement. "Ah wanna milkshake!"

"I wanna sundae," Zach whined along with him, making him giggle when Sammy rolled her eyes at them. He was coming to discover that Zach wasn't that much different from him, which was probably why Sammy had chosen him. A grown up version of Jaden was almost as good as the real one. "Please? I left my wallet back at the apartment."

"Of course you did," Samantha said teasingly. "I bet it was conveniently 'forgotten' in your sock drawer. Just like the last time."

"The jig is up Jaden. Quick, dazzle her with your adorable looks!"

Jaden ducked his head to make his sunglasses slip down his nose and looked back at his long time babysitter with the cutest smile he had in his arsenal. A few people walking towards them "awed" as they past, but Samantha's expression melted only a fraction before she waggled a finger in centimeters from his nose. "Nuh uh, little man! I know all the tricks in your book, and 'Cute Face #5' doesn't work on me anymore."

His smile turned into an adorable pout, which made the woman sigh. "But 'Pouting Face #7' does. Alright, we'll wait for the bus in the little ice cream shop behind the bus stop."

Jaden released her hand to give Zach a quick high five before grasping it again. "Ah wanna strawberry –no! Choc'late milkshake. Wait, can Ah get a strawberry _an'_ choc'late milkshake? With a cherry on top? An' lotsa whip cream with sprinkles an' whoa! Kitty!"

"Jaden!" both Samantha and Zach yelled as the energetic child broke free and ran ahead, accidently bumping into other people as he chased a stray cat down the sidewalk. The feline seemed to sense him and barely turned to look his way before breaking into a dead run. Jaden narrowed his eyes in determination and pushed himself to go faster despite the yells from Sammy and Zach behind him telling him to stop. He'd had a long talk with his mommy about having a pet, and she had said that they couldn't afford to buy a puppy or kitty. So, if Jaden were to find stray pet for free…

"Kitty," Jaden panted as he turned the corner the animal had just taken. "Come back here! Ah wanna keep you."

The boy slowed to a stop as he stared down the alley the cat had vanished into. Where did it go? It had to be around here somewhere. Jaden knew a thing or two about how to hide too, and he was gonna find that cat if it was the last thing he did! Then he would name it Mr. Snuggles because that sounded like an appropriate pet name.

He wandered down the narrow alley, eyes instinctively darting to every nook and cranny that would make a good hiding place. Spotting hiding places just seemed to come naturally to him, and he wasn't complaining one bit. Those hiding places came in handy when he wanted to be sneaky, and big people normally couldn't fit in them anyways.

There was a shuffle on the other side of a dumpster, and Jaden quickly dashed over to it. Ah ha! He knew he would…that kitty…Jaden blinked down at the cardboard box and the being inside of it blinked back with dark brown eyes. This wasn't a kitty!

"Jaden!" He looked down the alley to see Sammy walking towards him out of breath but still looking angry. "You _cannot_ run away like that! What if someone had tried to take you? Or you were pushed out onto the street by mistake because someone didn't see you?"

"Ah'm sorry," Jaden said sincerely as his caretaker came closer. "But Ah wanted da kitty!"

"Just…don't run away like that again," Samantha sighed, reaching down to grab his hand when she was close enough and kneeling down to his height. "How would I have been able to tell Ms. Lori that her son got lost or hurt while I was watching him?"

Jaden ducked his head in true regret. He hadn't thought of any of that when he took off after the kitty, least of all making his mommy or Sammy sad. He'd just wanted a pet. "Ah'm sorry…"

Samantha pulled him close for a hug and squeezed him tightly. "I know you are. Just don't do it again, okay little man? Now let's go check on Zach. I think he might have had a heart attack from all that running."

Jaden giggled and took a step towards the street with the woman before pulling her to a stop and pointing at the box he had found. "What 'bout his mommy?"

Samantha's eyebrows furrowed in confusion until she caught sight of the baby quietly lying in his box, all swaddled up in a dark blue blanket with a black and gold stuffed bird gripped in his only free hand. The woman gasped and immediately bent down to pick him up. "Oh my God! You poor thing. How could someone just leave you here by this nasty dumpster all alone? You must be happy that Jadey-poo found you."

The infant expressed his "happiness" with a small grunt and clutched his bird closer as Samantha shifted him around so that she could hold him in one arm while holding Jaden's hand. Jaden enthusiastically skipped along beside her, occasionally hopping to catch a glance of the black haired, brown eyed, little baby. "Since Ah found 'im, can Ah keep 'im? Ah'd be a good big brother like Bobby!"

Samantha laughed at his eagerness. "I don't think Ms. Lori would be able to handle another little runt right now, and we still don't know if he has a mommy or daddy somewhere."

"You can be his mommy! You make a good mommy. An' Zach can be his daddy!"

The brunette blinked in surprise but couldn't keep the wistful smile off her face at the thought of being a mother. "I don't know. We'll see."

Of course, Zach pretty much sealed the deal on that idea. He immediately took the infant from his girlfriend and began to fawn over him like he did with Jaden, and by the time their bus came, he was already describing how the spare room in their shared apartment would be a perfect nursery and making plans with Jaden to forgo his next guitar lesson to paint said room.

All the while the small infant looked up at these three new people with wide brown eyes, etching their faces into his memory and making small connections to them already. He only smiled once when he felt a foreign happiness wrap around him before leaving him in the protective and strong hold of his "daddy."

Here. Here was where the former Soundwave would find a new family for the one he had lost.

* * *

**AN:** I like the movie-twins. They were actually my favorite characters in ROTF except they're one of the few cannon-characters that I actually found _really _difficult to write. I don't why, maybe it's because I've only seen a person write them well...once...

Anyway, Jaden/Jazz shall remain the main focus of this fic even though I've gone and added Soundwave/(whatever I decide to name him) to the mix. The little plot bunnies in my head just begged me to make Jaden the "big brother" to someone ;) So, we'll just have to wait and see how the story progresses now :)


	15. What Big Brothers Do

Rebirth

Chapter Fourteen

What Big Brothers Do

* * *

Mattie leaned in close and blinked his wide green eyes. The baby in the bouncer blinked back and methodically sucked on the pacifier in his mouth. Mattie stood back up to look at the proud Jaden standing at the head of the bouncer. "He's small."

"He's jus' a baby," Jaden defended and carefully patted the side of the three month old's head. Both Sammy and mommy had specifically told him to be _extra specially careful_ when touching the baby's dark, downy curls. In fact, mommy had told him not to touch the top of the baby's head at all. "Ah found 'im! Sammy and Zach are gonna be his mommy and daddy, but Ah'm his big brotha."

"Brothers gots to live together," Mattie pointed out as the baby continued to stare at him. He took one step to the side, and then another, but the baby's dark brown eyes refused to leave him. It was kind of a creepy.

"Nuh uh! Bobby's _my_ big brotha, an' he don't live with me."

"But Bobby has the same mama. Miss Sammy's his mama."

Jaden tried to think of a way to contradict the redhead, but when he came up blank he just glared and put his fists on his hips. "So? He still my lil' brotha!"

Mattie shrugged at his friend's hardheadedness (it wasn't the first time he'd dealt with it) and looked back down at the creepy- uh, _adorable_ little baby. Jaden had been very excited to introduce his new "brother" to his best friend and had nearly given the poor boy whiplash upon entering the apartment. So while the mommies sat around the table in the kitchen, the little kids were left to stare at the baby that had been placed in his bouncer in the living room.

"Wha' his name?" Mattie asked after watching Jaden gush over the baby, who didn't pay any attention to the little bird placed in his chubby hands. He just continued to stare at Mattie with that creepy, almost analytical, stare.

Jaden scratched his head before turning to the kitchen. He'd just been calling the new baby "the baby" or "lil' brotha" since he had been found two days ago. "Sammy! Wha' my brotha's name?"

Lorraine chuckled along with Mattie's mom as Samantha turned to answer him. "I don't know. He didn't come with a name, so Zach and I have been trying to decide what it should be. We've narrowed it down to Solomon or Sebastian."

Jaden nodded and turned back to his friend. "His name Sebby." The women behind him laughed enthusiastically as the name of the child was decided. He ignored them and bent down to look directly at baby. "You hear? You're name Sebby."

"Suh-bas-chin," Mattie pronounced slowly for the newly named Sebastian, who continued to stare at him for a moment before finally turning to jerkily pat Jaden on the cheek. "You named after a crab."

This sent the women into a fit of laughter as Sammy began to exclaim how she had never thought of that. The kids decided to ignore this new turn of conversation and focused on a new problem: the pacifier Sebastian was currently gumming on. Mattie seemed to reach for it before quickly pulling back as the stoic stare was turned back on him. "Jaden…"

"I know," Jaden covertly whispered back. They stared at it for a moment as Sebastian began to focus on the bird in his hand. "We gots to get it away."

"The pacy monster," Mattie said with the horror fed by the memories of that fateful day the "pacy monster" became real. "He gonna get Suh-bas-chin!"

Jaden, however, did not give into terror and straightened up with determination. He glanced into the kitchen to see the ladies busy with their conversation and grabbed the top of Sebastian's bouncer. Sebastian attempted to look up at him but gave up and decided to stare at Mattie again as the redhead obediently followed Jaden to the bedroom at the end of the hallway. Jaden parked the bouncer beside his bed and flattened himself on the floor to dig underneath said bed.

"The pacy monster's not gonna get my brotha!" Jaden said determinedly as he pulled a small plastic box out. He popped the lid off and started digging through the contents. Mommy had once said that Jaden was "a lil' packrat" because he absolutely refused to throw anything away even if it were things that he didn't even play with anymore. He had argued that someday he might need it, and what would he do when that day came and he didn't have it because it had been thrown away?

Well, that day had come, and he was happy that he had kept his baby toys stashed away in a box under his bed.

Mattie tilted his head and picked up the rubber ducky that Jaden reverently put to the side. He squeezed it, making the toy squeak and spew out a tiny stream of water. "How come you gots bath toys under the bed?"

He blinked when the toy was snatched away, and Jaden warily stared at the door. When no one came to investigate the squeaky sound, Jaden pulled out another storage box, this one containing the toys he played with now, and stashed away the duck while putting a finger to his mouth to shush his friend. "Shh! Mommy don' know Pow is outta da tub."

Mattie nodded in agreement, and Jaden went back to digging through the box. He got bored watching the other boy and looked around at Jaden and Ms. Lori's combined bedroom until his eyes landed back on Sebastian, who was _still_ staring at him. "Jaden why you brother stare so much?"

"'Cause he can' talk," Jaden answered as if it was obvious. He pulled out a ring teether and shouted "Ah ha!" before turning to Sebastian. "Gimme dat pacy!"

Sebastian scrunched his eyes up in what could be considered a glare if the infant knew what a glare was and pointedly jerked his head away when Jaden attempted to take away his pacifier. This continued until Mattie just snatched the pacifier away when Sebastian faced him.

Someone not part of this daring "Pacy Monster Prevention Plan" would have thought the two older boys had just performed the ultimate betrayal against the infant. His bottom lip wobbled as he stared at them with wide, shocked eyes, and he actually whimpered when Jaden walked over to hide the pacifier in the trashcan beside Lorraine's nightstand.

Jaden returned and saw Sebastian staring at him with shattered trust, and the boy moved to comfort him. "Don't cry Sebby! Ah'm protectin' you like a big brotha 'cause dat's wha' big bothas do."

Mattie handed over the teether that Jaden had temporarily entrusted him with when throwing the evil pacifier away. Jaden immediately waved the blue teether in front of the infant. The whimper stopped and the glare returned as if to say "You take away _my _pacifier and give me _your _old teether? I don't think so!"

"It for you own good," Jaden insisted as he took Sebastian's little hand and forced it to hold the teether. The baby stuck his nose up at it and released it while wildly waving his arms around. It bonked Mattie in the head, making the redhead blink with surprise as Jaden snatched it back up. "No Sebby! Don't hit Mattie. That mean!"

But Sebastian flung the teether away again, and again, and again, until Jaden had just about had it. He huffed as he walked over to retrieve the teether once more and stomped back over to shove in Sebastian's face. "Take it!"

Sebastian shrieked, making both of the boys jump since neither had expected such a loud noise to come from the abnormally silent baby, and the flung the teether away with all of his might. It bounced off of the wall and landed on the dresser with a clatter as it bumped into the bottles on top. Jaden sighed at the almost smug look on Sebastian's face before the infant went back to blankly staring at Mattie.

Neither of the older boys had a chance to reposes the teether and hide any incriminating evidence as Samantha was suddenly running into the room. She looked around on the edge of panic until she finally noticed all three boys now staring at her with wide eyes. "Oh thank God! I heard the crash and saw that you guys weren't in the living room anymore. You two can't just take Sebastian without me knowing."

Jaden and Mattie ducked their heads in guilt but that seemed to be negated by the airy laugh from Lorraine as the other two women joined them in the bedroom. The older woman put her hand on Samantha's shoulder after she had carefully extracted her baby from the bouncer. "Welcome to the world of motherhood, where you panic at every lil' cry. It gets easier as they grow. Now Jaden, you betta not have been gettin' into trouble in here."

"No mommy," Jaden denied sweetly as the others began to retreat back to the other end of the apartment. "Ah was jus' doin' wha' big brothas do."

"Speaking of big brothers," Lorraine started as she bent to pick him up. Jaden clung to her "koala bear style" and looked her straight in the eye. "How you feel 'bout visitin' Bobby soon?"

Her answer was an enthusiastic squeal, and she chuckled as her son clung to her head in a hug. "Ah gonna see Bobby! Ah gots all kinds of stuff ta tell him. Like, like how Ah gonna start Kindy'garten, an' how Ah stopped Meanie-head, an' dat Ah'm a big brotha too!"

"Jaden," Samantha called from the living room, interrupting his eager planning. "Where's Sebastian's pacifier?"

His blue eyes got wide and he put a finger to his lips to keep his mom quiet. "Don't tell Sammy! Ah hide it from pacy monster so Sebby stay safe."

Lorraine nodded with equal seriousness even though on the inside she was cracking up, and they left the room to rejoin their guests. Other than hiding the pacifier, Jaden was surprisingly good that day, though he constantly insisted on helping Samantha with Sebastian (except when his diaper needed to be changed).

"'Cause dat's wha' big brothas do" seemed to become his motto for the day.

* * *

**AN:** I got Soundwave's new name narrowed to three: Seth, Solomon, and Sebastian. As you can see, Sebastian won out ;) I liked the suggestion of naming him after a musician (because of Zach's interests) and come to find out Sebastian is the name of the guy who is the rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist for Simple Plan, which is a band that I liked not too long ago (except they guy is French-Canadian so it's spelled/pronounced slightly different). But you can also make the assumption that he was named after a talking crab like Mattie did ;D

Anyway, Epps shall make another appearance next chapter :D


	16. Unofficial First Meetings

**AN: **Sorry for taking so long with this chapter. Beginning to come into the homestretch of this semester, and of course _everything_ is getting assigned now. Plus I'm starting to get back into the groove of writing my other story, which was actually the point of doing this. It's not like I'll up and abandon this (because I only start a story that I have the intent of finishing) but updating for everything might be funky for a little while (like it isn't already...)

A good long chapter for my (almost) two week absence :D

Time Unit  
_**Megacycle: ~2.6 hours  
Nano-klik: ~1 second**_

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Fifteen

Unofficial First Meetings

* * *

"Are we dere yet?"

Lorraine sighed as she looked up from her crossword to see Jaden looking up at her with his most adorable puppy-dog eyes while bouncing in his seat in poorly concealed excitement. "Where is your coloring book?"

"Ah finished it!" the boy said, grabbing his thick coloring book and showing off his rushed scribbles on every page. The mother shook her head when she realized each page was covered in one color. "Ah bored now."

Lorraine sighed and closed her crossword. She hadn't been getting anywhere with it anyway. "Look out your window and tell me what you see."

Jaden did as she said, climbing onto his knees and pressing his face into the glass. "Ah see…clouds…an' a birdie way over dere!"

"Mmhmm, and do you see anywhere fo' our big plane to land?"

Jaden smacked his finger against the glass to make a hollow pinging sound. "Down dere! Bu' it too far away."

"Then I guess we're not there yet." The five year old pouted and sat back into his seat. Lorraine smiled at his behavior and opened her book back up while slyly holding it in such a way that Jaden couldn't help but glance at. She tapped her pen against her lips and hummed in thought, reaching down to write a word before retracting her hand again and humming some more.

Jaden finally took the bait and leaned on her arm to get a closer look. "What're you doin'?"

"I can't figure out this word! I need a three letter word for a four legged creature with whiskers that says 'meow.'"

He giggled at how obvious the answer was. "It 'cat' mommy!"

"My goodness, you're right!" She penned in the word in a three-boxed space and leaned down to give him a loud, smacking kiss on the forehead. "You are so smart. Now how 'bout a bird with pretty feathers and likes to talk a lot?"

Lorraine smiled as Jaden laughed again and gave her the answer. By the time the pilot came over the intercom to signal their eminent landing, they had three puzzles full of blatantly wrong answers but didn't seem to mind as they snuggled and giggled over the book.

**~:0:~**

"Ah wan' my guitar! 'Cause it's so pretty, an' coo'! An' Ah can play music, so Ah don' sound so silly singin' dis song!"

Lorraine smiled broadly at the people standing around waiting for their luggage and attempting not to laugh at the singing child. Of course there were some people who looked plain annoyed by the loud boy, but there was always that type of person in a crowd.

"Ah miss my Mattie! An' my lil' brotha too! But dis song is so coo', that Sammy will love me fo'eva an' not need Zach 'cause he sucks at singin' an' now Ah can play guitar so Sammy don' need him no more!"

"Jaden," Lorraine chided when the boy finally paused to take a big breath. "Don't be so mean in your song. I thought you liked Mr. Zach."

"Ah'd like him more~ If he would jus' leave! Then Ah'd get my Sammy, all back to me!"

A man beside them chuckled at Jaden's sung answer and actually gave the boy a quarter before leaving with his bag. Lorraine laughed at the implied joke, but Jaden looked down at the coin as if it were a million bucks. "Mommy, mommy, mommy! Dat man gave me money! Can Ah buy a new toy?"

"We'll see," the mother said with a chuckle before directing her son's attention to the conveyer belt. "I see our bags. You betta' grab them before they pass!"

Jaden almost jumped onto his bags and pulled them off quickly while Lorraine grabbed her own suitcase. She draped his bag of clothes over the handle of her rolling suitcase and took his hand after he had properly put his guitar case on his back, and they both began to traverse through the busy airport.

Lorraine had been suspicious at first, but Bobby had insisted on her and Jaden coming to this get together that his former Army Ranger friend was having. She knew it was his way of trying to make her worry less by introducing her to the people he worked with, but she just felt like slapping that boy across the back of head. She knew a "Thank God I Cheated Death Again" party when she saw one. And he had told her not that long ago that he had retired from the frontlines and worked with people behind the scenes now. Lying little…

"Mommy, Ah see a real cowboy!"

Lorraine moved to instinctively hush Jaden but just sighed as her little boy took off into the crowd to find this "cowboy." If he wasn't so good at wiggling himself out of dubious situations, she would have actually worried that someone might take her boy…but then they'd just return him after discovering how big of a handful he really was.

It took a special kind of person to be able to keep up with that boy and half the time it was still hard for _her _to keep up with him. And she was as special as it got.

She blinked as she spotted Jaden through the crowd of people, and then blinked again at the man that was kneeling in front of the boy who impatiently yanked on his sleeve. Wow…he really _did_ look like a cowboy with his bushy mustache, Stetson hat, red buttoned up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, blue jeans, and ordinary brown leather boots. Plus he looked around her age, so it wasn't so awkward to ogle his…_presence_ for a brief second before approaching.

"Do you 'ave a horsie Mr. Cowboy?" Jaden was yelling above the noise of the airport.

The stranger looked temporarily surprised by the question before smiling. "I am afraid I do not."

"Aw…do ya chase down villains and shoot dem wit' you' gun?"

The man looked thoughtful before nodding. "In a way I do."

"Cool! Do ya 'ave a par'ner dat's a space ranger an' yell 'Dere's a snake in my boot!'?"

This inspired a series of chuckles before the man leaned in close and whispered something in the boy's ear. Jaden's eyes got wide enough to seem like they were about to pop out of his head before he ran over to his approaching mother. "Mommy, mommy! Mr. Cowboy knows peoples from space!"

Lorraine took another look at this man, who was standing and straightening his crisp shirt. He walked over to them and smiled. "You must be Ms. Robinson."

"And how would you know?" she asked suspiciously, if not a little rudely. She'd never met this man in her life, and she didn't like total strangers knowing who she was when she didn't know who _they_ were.

He smiled down at Jaden knowingly. "Robert told me to look for a boisterous five year old who would not be able to resist asking me questions. I only assume that the lovely woman behind him would be his mother."

Oh my. Well didn't _he_ know how to make a lady blush. "Where is that lazy son of mine? Forget to pick up his mother and brother?"

"Actually, I volunteered to be the one to greet you upon arrival. Robert and William were having a slight…grilling catastrophe."

"Of course. You'd think that boy would've learned after the first dozen small fires he had started because a grill."

He chuckled along with her and amicably volunteered take the bags had as he led them out of the airport, Jaden just a babbling to him about getting him a real cowboy's horse.

**~:0:~**

Jaden just could not get over how _cool_ this was! Mr. Cowboy didn't need a horsie when he had a huge truck with flames! The boy giggled and bounced in his seat with excitement, which made his mommy reach over and put a hand on his shoulder to still him for the hundredth time. "You still haven't introduced yourself stranger."

The cowboy looked highly appalled by the reminder. "I apologize. I did not mean to appear so rude. My name is Otto…Parkinson. Otto Parkinson."

Lorraine hummed at the noticeable stumble and moved both of her hands into her lap to minimize the amount of space she touched. "How exactly do you know my Bobby?"

"He's _my_ Bobby!"

Otto smiled at the giggling Jaden who was playfully nudged towards him by Lorraine. "Boy, he was my Bobby _first_."

"He's my Bobby _now!"_

Lorraine tooted and waved for Otto to answer her question since Jaden would never stop giggling. "I have had the privilege of working alongside your son for the last few years. He is a brave and determined soldier, and I am honored to have worked with him."

"You a superhero too?" Jaden asked with awe. "A _cowboy_ superhero?"

Otto chuckled at his awe. "I suppose I am."

"So you really _do_ know 'people from space,'" Lorraine hedged suspiciously. "You work with them too?"

"Very closely," he answered without pause. "Is there a problem?"

"Other than I'm tired of bein' lied to? No, not really."

"Ohhh," Jaden voiced as his admiration shifted to disapproval. "You _lied._ You can' lie to mommy. She knows _ev'rything._"

"She is in fact a very intelligent woman," Otto agreed honestly, "and I apologize for my deceit. However, I also believe she understands my reasons for not being completely truthful."

Jaden looked up at his mom expectantly, and she reluctantly agreed. "I get it, but don't think you can use that as an excuse to lie to me lil' mister!"

"Okay," Jaden said and stretched his neck in an attempt to look over the dashboard to see outside the window. "Are we dere yet?"

**~:0:~**

"Alright, alright! I got this."

"Just let me-"

"No."

"Come on man!"

"No, Bobby, Bobby! You can't touch the grill again."

Epps threw his arms up into the air as Will pointedly shielded the simple grill from him. "Come on man! I'm tellin' ya they set me up."

"Oi! We didn' do nothin' ya wanker!"

"It's no' _our_ faul' ya can' do anythin'!"

The last of the three simply threw his head back and shoved another handful of nacho flavored chips into his big mouth. Epps shook his head at the three "human" Wreckers. And here he had thought he had seen the extent of their "assholery." They should have never been granted the ability to make holoforms.

Until the events of Chicago died down and the government was able to find a new, appropriate headquarters, the Autobots had been ordered to stay off the radar. So the Lennox family had offered their large property as a place for them to temporarily live. It was better than the storage units that Mearing had "offhandedly" warned them that the other bureaucrats in Washington were aiming for. At least _she_ was beginning to understand that the Autobots weren't just tools to be tossed aside once they were of no use.

Of course, that didn't stop her from demanding biweekly progress reports. She _was_, after all, still director of what was left of NEST.

Anyway, Que seemed to have left a legacy behind with the few inventions that survived Sentinel's rampage. There was a holo-generator for everyone currently on Earth along with the blueprints to assemble more generators on the chance of more Autobots landing. There had also been a warning to have Sideswipe test the first one out, but that hadn't been much of a surprise to the mechs, least of all the test dummy himself.

Since Sideswipe survived the first twenty-four hours, Epps supposed that was a sign to the others that it was safe.

And man, were they actually _enjoying_ it. Apparently there was just something to being able to interact with people outside of the armed forces that made them extremely happy…or on the same height as their intended victims where they didn't get an earful from the Big Guy or Ratchet about potentially squishing their allies. He was willing to bet that the latter was why the Wreckers were enjoying their new forms.

"Le' me show ya how it's done," the portly Wrecker said as he hauled himself out of the patio chairs the three had commandeered upon their arrival. He scratched at his bushy beard as he walked over to them, and Epps couldn't help but roll his eyes at the new bandana and sunglasses that adorned the holoform. Each Wrecker tended to have one new addition a day: longer hair for Topspin, a new tattoo for Roadbuster, and a new bandana for Leadfoot. It was like they were trying to outdo each other with which one could make the most "realistic" holoform.

"Don' lis'en to 'im! He don' know a bloo'y thing he's doin'."

"Ya callin' me stupid fragger?"

"I'm no' the one admittin' it."

Topspin casually sidled his chair to the side as Leadfoot did an about face and charged the lean Wrecker, both crashing to the ground and fighting for dominance with hard punches. Will sighed at the sight of them and turned back to the grill. "Sarah's gonna kill me if I don't get this thing going…"

"Daddy!" a little blonde girl yelled out of the sliding backdoor. "Mommy wants to know when we can make hotdogs. She says if it takes much longer, she'll come out here and do it herself."

"Tell her…I'll have it going in a minute," Will replied, smiling as his baby girl nodded and ran back inside. The smile fell when he noticed Leadfoot and Roadbuster still hitting each other and yelling crude insults. He reached over to slap the unoccupied Epps in the shoulder, making the other man retaliate without thinking. "Find something to make them stop without getting _him _involved and before they poison the mind of our kids!"

Epps rolled his eyes at his companion and turned away from the grill to find a good distraction. He was surprised that _he _hadn't come to yell at the foulmouthed Wreckers yet. _Him _being the currently moody Ratchet, who was holed up in the abandoned barn further out on the property. Ratchet was the only one who hadn't made use of his holoform yet and chose to remain in his alt-form while the others "frolicked around like a bunch of idiots." Sideswipe had jokingly assured the humans that the CMO was going through a period of behavior similar to that of a woman's menstrual cycle…before promptly being offlined by a well-aimed wrench.

He smirked as he picked the oblong brown ball off the ground and tossed it into the air above his head. If the Wreckers wanted to bang each other up, they should at least do it in a recreational and acceptable way. He aligned his fingers along the outer stitching of the ball, aimed, and threw it will of his might at the back of a bragging Roadbuster.

Unfortunately, Sideswipe happened to be skating past on the brick path that connected the back patio and the "grilling area," earning a football to the head and going down with an air of dramatics. However it _did_ catch their attention as they turned from each other to ridicule the normally silver front-liner, and Epps felt like he had accomplished his mission.

Until he had to duck out of the way of a football thrown at him with inhuman strength.

Epps straightened back up to see the blond young adult form of Sideswipe puffing his chest out in obvious challenge. "Well? Come on! I've seen some of the guys play this human game before, and I know I can kick your aft at it."

The human smirked at the unrestrained excitement that filled those inhumanly bright blue eyes. He had been told that Sideswipe was younger compared to the others (with the exception of Bumblebee), so seeing the mech so eager to finally be a part of a game he had seen others play many times didn't come as a shock. Neither did having the previously fighting Wreckers join in and divide up into teams with the human having one Wrecker to make it "even." He was convinced that that was just an excuse for Roadbuster and Leadfoot to tackle each other.

Epps was laughing at Leadfoot flattening Roadbuster into the ground while Sideswipe continuously called fouls that weren't actually there just to get the ball and skate across the wide yard in the wrong direction of where they had deemed the touchdown zones. Will joined Topspin on the lounge chairs once he got the coals on the grill to smoldering and laughed along with his friend while the benched Wrecker "cheered" whenever one of his brother-in-arms performed a particularly dirty tackle, raising a chip into the air with silent approval before bringing it back down to devour.

The ball was handed off to Epps again when a new player decided to intervene. At first it was just a distant scream that made him look towards the house, automatically thinking that his youngest daughter or Will's son had finally awoken from their naps. But it got louder…and closer…and then suddenly Epps was being tackled from behind, the surprising attack making him fumble the ball.

It was immediately snatched up, and he could only make out a black and white bob running across the yard screaming, "Ah got da ball!" while ducking out of the way of the mechs with surprising ease.

The new arrival's screams attracted the attention of the other kids inside the house, and Epps simply shook his head as he soon found his oldest daughter, the twins, and Annabelle running in a loose circle behind Jaden while either screaming for no reason or shouting at each other.

"Uncle Jaden!"

"Sha-ree-ka!"

"You're here!"

"Ah'm here!"

"I'm Anna!"

"Ah'm Jaden!"

"I'm Shareeka!"

"I'm Shiloh!"

Few could resist laughing at the looks the kids gave Sideswipe as he attempted to join in the running and nonsensical yelling. Sideswipe pouted and gave them the most pitiful look he could muster without smiling. "Come on! I'm a kid a heart too!"

"_If kids could look scandalized, this was how they would look_,_"_ Epps thought with a laugh as all the children continued to look up at the young adult. How dare an adult jump into their fun and pretend to be a _kid?_

After a stare off between Sideswipe and the five kids, Jaden finally raised the football above his head and yelled, "You're too _big!"_ before hitting the shocked Sideswipe in the head. The children burst into fits of giggles, and the two oldest girls grabbed Jaden's hands to run him into the house with the twins quickly following behind.

Sideswipe recovered from the attack to glare at the two Wreckers who were leaning on each other for support while they laughed. "That isn't fair! How come _Dino_ is great with kids while they just attack me?"

"'Cause life aint fair that way," Epps answered with a chuckle. The question was a good one and probably would forever go unanswered. No one knew _why_ Dino, upon their arrival to the Lennox household, had asked to take a screaming six month old from a strained Sarah's grasp so that she could mingle and help prepare lunch with Monique and the girls. No one knew _what_ Dino had done to make the boy calm down. No one knew _how_ he had managed to make baby sleep on his chest for hours while reclining in the recliner and watching mindless TV with Fred. Everyone was just too surprised that the one Autobot who had always made a point to say how disgusting the organic life on Earth was now letting an organic baby drool all over him.

Meanwhile, any child who came within a ten foot radius of Sideswipe had the uncontrollable urge to harm him in some way.

Speaking of harm, Epps had fully expected to be the victim of a slapping fit by now. Maybe his mom had gone through the house and been deterred in the kitchen by the women…

And then the expected slap graced his shoulder blade. "Ow! Mama! Why do you insist on hitting me?"

"Because words won't get through your thick skull," Lorraine answered as she slapped him again. "You could have _at least_ told me you weren't gonna pick me and your brother up! Do you know how embarrassing it is to swoon over a handsome alien?"

"I swear, I was gonna pick you up before Will started having trouble with the grill. And what are you talking about 'handsome alien'?" Lorraine slapped him again with a stronger force, which made him yelp in surprise and finally notice the raucous laughter now directed at _him. _"Mama! Do you know how embarrassing it is to be slapped by your mama in front of you army buddies?"

"Would you rather I smother you with kisses?" Lorraine asked before deviously reaching up to grab her tall son's face. "Come here and let mama have some sugar!"

"Mama! Go back to slapping me. I think you just completely ruined my manhood."

Lorraine chuckled and moved to greet Monique and Sarah as they came out to welcome her, reaching out to slap a breathless Roadbuster as she passed. Epps shook his head as the Wrecker's curses caused him to be slapped over and over again until he surprisingly learned not to use that language around the new woman. He didn't like the intrigued look on Will's face as his mom finally went into the house. He was all for teaching the Wrecker to be…less like assholes, but they weren't going to use his mama to do it!

"She gots one 'ell of a slap!"

"Now _tha'_ is a fine specimen o' femme."

Epps wanted the ground to open up beneath him and swallow him whole when Topspin grunted with his own approval. The Wreckers weren't allowed to look at his mom in that way! No, just…no. And Will wasn't supposed to find this all so amusing!

"She is indeed a very intriguing woman."

"No!" Epps shouted as he turned around to see Optimus with the bags that must have belonged to his mother. "None of you are allowed to have those thoughts about my mom—not even you Optimus!"

Will snickered as his friend took the bags from Optimus and stomped into the house, shouting another warning for all of them to stay away from his mama before entering the house. Then he was suddenly preoccupied with his grill going up in flames.

Leadfoot flipped Topspin out of his chair. "I told ya, ya put too much fuel in it!"

Optimus sighed as the Wreckers began to curse and punch each other as a panicky Will dealt with the spontaneously exploding grill while looking casual when his wife came to see what he was yelling about. He made sure a certain mischievous front-liner wouldn't do something to make the situation worse before going to check on his old friend in the barn.

And when he was done with that, he would enter the house and have an interesting conversation with Lorraine while silently being amused by Epps' sudden twitch.

**~:0:~**

If Lorraine were to wake up and see the little face inches from hers and staring at her, Jaden had no doubt she would scream, and then slap him like she did Bobby before ordering him to go sleep with his older brother. Or worse, sleep with _Fred._ He hated Fred more than he had hated Zach. His only nephew didn't seem to like him at all and had ignored him the whole time he was there.

Fortunately, Jaden was just _that_ sneaky as he kept an eye on his sleeping mom while slowly wiggling his butt in the direction of the edge of the bed. There were times when his mommy woke up at the tiniest movement, and then there were times when she could sleep through anything. He hadn't been able to pick out a definite pattern in her sleeping habits yet, but it was just easier to be his sneakiest anyway.

His bare feet touched the cold wood floor, and he paused to watch his mother before picking up his shoes where he had thrown them before bedtime and sneaking out of the room. He stopped in the hallway, checking up and down it for any signs of life, and silently crept down to the staircase.

Here was the tricky part. Bells had told him that some of the stairs loudly creaked when they were stepped on, but Jaden had experimented with the steps before having to go to bed. He hadn't kept track of how many times he had to run up and down them before figuring out that it was the third, fifth, eighth, and twelfth step that creaked when stepped on. Then he had figured out where exactly he had to step to make them creak before delivering his finds to Bells and 'Reeka.

However, Jaden _did_ remember looking up once to see Mr. Super-Cowboy-Hero watching him with a sad smile. He had stopped and stared wide-eyed, absolutely certain that the man would make him stop or tell his mommy where he had snuck off to, but was pleasantly surprised when all the man did was put a finger to his lips and walk away quietly. Jaden had kept an eye on him long enough to be assured that he wasn't going to tell Lorraine before continuing his evaluation of the stairs.

Jaden had really enjoyed meeting the other new people today as well. Mrs. Sarah was really nice, like 'Reeka's mommy, and she had even snuck him (and the other little kids) a chocolate chip cookie before dinner. Mr. Will was like his Bobby and really fun to play with; he had even helped teach Jaden and the others how to properly play football.

Leland, Ross, and Toby were _extremely_ funny: Leland and Ross always talked in funny voices while Toby was a silent kind of funny. Although Bobby tried to keep them away from their mommy for a reason that Jaden didn't understand. Maybe it was because mommy often hit Ross for something he said, which often started a fight between him and Leland and Toby when the latter two laughed at him.

Dino (_De_-no not _Die_-no) wasn't very nice to begin with. He hadn't talked, just glared with sharp blue eyes when Jaden had first led the group of yelling children into the house. But he had melted a bit when Jaden later asked him when he had gotten the baby he was holding, which also made Shiloh burst into uncontrollable laughter. Speaking of Shiloh, he was a funny guy to play with too. But he tried too hard, so Jaden had the overwhelming need to make it harder on him by kicking him in the shin and running away or innocently ask questions that he knew made any adult falter. However, Shiloh dealt well with those setbacks until Jaden had decided to cut him some slack.

But there was one last person that Jaden had yet to meet, which had prompted this after dark rendezvous with Bells and 'Reeka. Apparently he stayed hidden in the barn while the others had fun, but Bells visited him after her mommy and daddy went to sleep. Jaden didn't really care for the reasons behind staying hidden, but he was extremely curious about seeing this last new person before he had to leave.

He found the girls whispering to each other on the patio. He suddenly wanted to say something witty and _cool_ to impress Bells, so he puffed up his chest (showing off the cartoon characters on his pajamas) and said, "Let's do dis."

The girls squealed in surprise and turned to glare at them. Shareeka even copied how his mama hit Bobby all the time. "You scared us Uncle Jaden!"

The boy's chest deflated when he saw his attempt to impress had totally failed. "Sorry…"

"It's okay," Annabelle said in order to diffuse the glare her new friend was giving her uncle. "Let's go before my daddy wakes up. He gets up _really_ early when he comes home."

Jaden immediately grabbed the hand the girl offered, and Shareeka huffed as he angelically offered his other hand to her. Annabelle waited for them to join hands before dragging them off the patio and into the dark yard, their only source of light being the beam of her tiny flashlight and the thin sliver of moon. Jaden was impressed by how she easily guided them out of the yard and towards the distant barn. He would have tripped in the hidden holes that were scattered across the field if Annabelle wasn't there to guide them.

And that was why Jaden was going to marry Bells when he was older. Just saying. Mommy said that it was a good idea to have a plan for the future.

They reached the barn in record time, and Annabelle pushed the big door inwards for them to squeeze through. It was_ very_ dark in the barn with only Bells' light and the faint light of the moon that made long shadows flit across the walls and rafters, making Shareeka step closer to the others and clutch Jaden's hand. Because Jaden wasn't scared…nope, not at all…

And he did _not_ jump when the middle of the barn suddenly lit up from a bright green ambulance.

Annabelle let go of his hand and rushed over to the vehicle as the driver's door swung open. "Hey Mr. Raphael! You missed my daddy making the grill explode. Mama ended up putting the burgers and hotdogs on the stove while Ms. Lori and Mrs. Moni made a yummy pudding with cookies on the bottom."

"Oreo Delight!" Jaden interceded, as that was his favorite dessert _ever_. Whenever his mommy made it he would sneak into the kitchen to pilfer a cookie or a dollop of whip cream.

"Yeah! It was really yummy. You should have come had fun with all of us!"

There was a sigh, and Jaden watched two feet appear below the door of the ambulance and a man step out to slam the door shut. He looked old, like his mommy and the cowboy, and he didn't look very happy when he saw Jaden and Shareeka standing off to the side. "_Annabelle Rose Lennox_, I told you before not to visit me at this time of night, not to bring more of you."

Instead of looking ashamed at the chiding, Annabelle happily giggled, making Jaden like her even more. It took a certain type of kid to not be fazed by an adult's anger/disappointment. "They're not _me_, silly! This is Jaden and Shareeka. They're Mr. Bobby's family."

Mr. Raphael sighed and brought his hand up to pinch the upper ridge of his nose. "No, what I meant was—oh forget it! You should not be sneaking out of the house at such a young age."

"But I didn't want you to get lonely!"

"Oh stop it! I know darn well what you came out here for."

Annabelle just smiled and gestured her new friends closer before sitting on the dirt floor beneath them. The other two children mimicked her, and three sets of eyes looked up at him hopefully. He stared back for a second before sighing in defeat and easing himself onto the floor with them. "Fine, fine! But you're not staying here until the sun rises like you did last night. Children your age require a proper ten to twelve hours of sleep each day, which you have not been getting for the past two days young lady."

"I will tomorrow," Annabelle promised, and Jaden didn't even need to see the eye roll Mr. Raphael gave her to know that that was a promise that had already been broken before. Bells had a lot of persistence…for a girl. "Now tell the stories about Mr. Ian!"

"_Alright_, you impatient youngling. I thought you had more manners than this; by the way Ian spoke of you, you were like a little angel descended from heaven to grace this miserable planet with your paradoxical purity." Annabelle brightly smiled up at him while Shareeka and Jaden blinked at each other in confusion. They were pretty sure that Annabelle didn't have clue what the man said either, but she must have heard it before to not be thrown off like they were. "Now where did we leave off last night? Ah yes, Ian running into the heat of battle like an idiot and getting stuck in the middle with a busted leg. Now-"

"No, Mr. Raphael!" Annabelle interrupted before he could really get started. "Shareeka and Jaden don't know Mr. Ian like I do. You have to tell them who he is!"

"Why don't you do that? You know him as well as I do."

"But _I'm_ not the storyteller. That's your job."

The man glared at the smiling girl and the other two giggling children before sighing again. "Ian was a hardheaded slagger who talked a bunch of crap and swung huge guns around. Is that good enough for you?"

"Daddy says that word's bad in another language. Mr. Ian used it a lot and mama made him go outside in the rain 'till he stopped using it. So you can't use it either."

"Well it's the only one you can properly describe him with." He paused and grew serious as he looked at the new children. "Ian was a very brave and dedicated soldier, and he was also one of my closest friends. He put his life on the line daily to protect others and should be remembered as the hero he was. Stupidity and all."

The girls giggled at the last statement, but Jaden couldn't bring himself to do the same. His keen sense of observation picked up on the glimmer of sadness in the man's eyes, the subtle slump in his posture, and the slight strain of his forced smile. Something happened to Mr. Ian that neither Bells nor Mr. Raphael wanted to talk about.

Jaden scooted across the dirt to sit beside the man and looked up at him with big blue eyes. "He saves lots o' people?"

The man blinked down in surprise at the question. "Many."

"He good friend?"

"A little hardheaded, but yes—one of the best."

"Beat bad guys up?"

"That was possibly his favorite hobby."

Jaden reached over and grabbed the man's rough hand. "He gonna be 'membered. Nobody forgets a superhero."

Mr. Raphael blinked down at Jaden and sighed when Annabelle chose to climb into his lap and Shareeka cuddled up on his other side. "I thought I was supposed to be telling a story, not becoming a huge teddy bear for you to snuggle with!"

"Mr. Ian made a good snuggle bear," Annabelle stated and looked up at him with big green eyes. "Tell us a story about Mr. Ian. A good one, _please."_

The adult sighed as he once again had three expectant children staring up at him. "Alright. Have I told you the one about Ian being tricked into being the object for target practice? No, well he thought he was actually going to be teaching some new trainees, but Jazz, another friend of ours, forgot to mention that the trainees needed a moving target, _not_ a teacher. Now do you know what a paint gun? That was basically what they used instead of real weapons, and you can only imagine how unhappy a person will be to be covered in splotches of neon paint. Like polka dots in the extreme."

Ratchet couldn't resist smiling along with the giggling children as he continued on to describe the scene Ironhide had made on the training floor while the medic had stood in the observation deck with a Jazz that couldn't stop laughing, a Prime that had fought hard to restrain his own amusement, and the group of younglings that had unabashedly used the senior officer for the purpose he had been set up to be used for.

And all the while, he searched for any kind of recognition from the boy who sat beside him and felt tremendous disappoint when he found none.

**~:0:~**

"That boy is _not_ Jazz."

Optimus made his holoform blink in surprise at the sight of his medic standing in front of him with a severe frown in place. Well, not exactly his medic per say, but the holoform that represented him at the moment. Holoform or not, he still didn't look very pleased. And a displeased Ratchet was never a good thing "You are correct. His name is Jaden."

"That's not what I mean and you know it!" Ratchet hissed so that the others on the patio couldn't hear them. After the initial surprise of seeing him stomp over from the barn, the humans who were aware of their true identities had returned to the amusing sight of the impromptu football game of Autobots vs. Children. The Autobots were currently losing 4-1, and the Wreckers didn't look very pleased by that. "You told me on the way back to Diego Garcia after the Egypt incident that you were granted the 'honor' of seeing Jazz reborn and given the hope that one day he would once more be a member of our team. That is _not_ Jazz!"

Optimus sighed and stood up to usher Ratchet to the side of the house where they could speak in private. He glanced behind him at the giggling Jaden that ran around with the ball held high above his head as he ducked between the legs of Roadbuster. "I also remember informing you that he _would_ be different. This is not the same Jazz we had come to know, nor will he ever be. His human mother is doing a fine job of raising him to one day be an upstanding young man, and while he has many similarities to Jazz, he is Jaden: a mixture of the old and new. I implore that you not judge him by the same standards you would Jazz but come to know Jaden in the little time we will have with him. He will be leaving with his mother in the morning."

Ratchet deflated at that and massaged his temple with a sigh. "I apologize Optimus. I just…when he came to the barn with Annabelle last night, I was just hoping that he would suddenly interrupt my storytelling to correct some obscure detail. Like the paint used to prank Ironhide with was always a specific shade of hot pink, or tell us what exactly he did to drive Ironhide to the brink of insanity when they were trapped in that tiny pit when they got caught in that storm while taking a 'shortcut' through the Sea of Rust. I was waiting for some sign of…_recognition."_

The Prime placed a heavy hand on his companion's shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. "I understand. You have just lost two close friends and hoped to reconnect with one you had thought was lost. But do not forget that you have other comrades that support you. I am here for you anytime, old friend, and Sideswipe has willingly conceded to becoming a 'punching bag' to relieve your stress."

Ratchet emitted a snort that slowly morphed into a chuckle. He hadn't liked it when the humans had all but shoved them out of Chicago and into "storage" on the Lennox farm. True, it was better than an actual storage unit, but the prospect of helping mend the human city after mending his own companions had been a welcoming idea to him. He would have had something to distract him from fully digesting what had happened in such a brief period of time.

Out here with nothing to do but sit and wait for the next big thing all he could do was_ think_. Think about being just a fraction of a nano-klik too late to save Ironhide's spark even as his body corroded at a rapid pace; to think of how he knew the young, highly annoying (but still so _young)_ twins had suffered the same fate at a faster rate because of their smaller frames; to think about he had sat there _inches away_ and watched his oldest friend have his chassis ripped open by a blast from a Decepticon's gun.

War was cruel and painful, and Ratchet had lost many a patient on his table. But he couldn't remember suffering loses such as the ones he had on Earth. Jazz, Jolt, Ironhide, Wheeljack—how was he going to cope with losing another? What if the next time it was Bumblebee? Or his other apprentice, First Aid? Primus forbid that Optimus died _again!_

He was getting too old for this.

The medic was pulled out of his thoughts by a jerk on his shirt. He glanced down to see a slightly panting and sweaty Jaden grinning up at him, the sun glinting of the dark lens of his neon purple sunglasses. "Hey Mr. Raphy and Mr. Super-Cowboy-Hero! Ah wanna give you somethin'."

Ratchet tried to protest the young boy shoving a toy figure into his hands, but Jaden was persistent and forced the mech-in-disguise to take the bright green toy that sported obvious signs of hard play. He stared at the cheap toy molded to look like a simple robot and attempted to hand it back to no avail. "Why are you giving me your toy?"

"'Cause. His name's Wa'chet an' he's always dere when Ah get lonely." Jaden's smile suddenly changed into a frown as he scuffed the toe of his shoe against the grass. "Ah los' my I'nhide, an' he been kinda lonely, so…so Ah wanna give 'im ta you, so you both not so lonely. He make you smile more!"

Ratchet stared down at the boy before kneeling to his level and attempting to _again_ give the toy back. "And what will happen when you get lonely again and this…'Wa'chet' isn't there to make you happy?"

Jaden bit his lip but smiled a second later as he shoved the toy into the man's chest. "Ah gots my mommy ta make me happy. An' my Mattie ta make me no' lonely; my Sammy ta make me smile an' Zach ta make me laugh; an' my Sebby ta make me be brave! Dat why Wa'chet so lonely—he los' his friend an' Ah not 'nough no more. He'll be good. Promise!"

He reassuringly patted Ratchet on the side of the arm before running off to tackle Sideswipe, who comically fell to the ground and prompted the beginnings of a dog pile with the children. Ratchet stared down at the green plastic in his hand and sighed as he stood. "At least he didn't name you 'Hatchet.'"

Optimus chuckled beside him and patted his shoulder again. "See? To a certain extent he has not forgotten us. And one day we will be able to forge a friendship with him again. Until then, he is in capable hands."

Ratchet watched Jaden wiggle out from under the pile of kids and run over to jump into the lap of an amused Lorraine. They whispered to each other before Lorraine gave the giggling Jaden a sloppy kiss on the forehead and directed him into the house. Once he had disappeared, the woman leaned over lightly touch Epps on the shoulder, who turned his head slightly to smile at her before continuing the conversation he was currently having Will and Dino.

Jazz had found the very thing that Ironhide, Wheeljack, and the other Autobots who sacrificed their lives in this war had been fighting for: peace. It was an unorthodox way to find it, but it gave the CMO a small sliver of hope that maybe—just _maybe—_now with Megatron and the majority of the high ranking Decepticons gone, a greater peace for rest of the Cybertronian race could be looming in the near future.

But that was for the future. There were more important matters to attend to at the moment, and one of them had Ratchet glaring at the leader beside him. "How could you allow Annabelle to drag those two children out of the house _in the middle of the night? _How could you have let _Annabelle_ past you again? I thought we agreed that you would stop her and make her return to bed if she did it again."

Optimus couldn't help but smile at his friend's anger, which made the medic's glare intensify. "As the humans would say, I followed a 'gut instinct' that said you needed that time with the children."

"And they need a proper night's rest! Annabelle especially; she hasn't slept a whole night through since we arrived."

"They appear fine to me."

"That's not the point Optimus!"

A smile flitted across the Prime's face as the CMO began to list the possible problems that could derive from lack of proper rest. This was a significant improvement to Ratchet sitting in the barn alone and barely acknowledging anyone's presence if they didn't incite his temper. Ratchet was one stubborn mech, and Optimus had actually begun to worry that the medic would continue to insist on isolating himself in order to manage his grief. That was why he had not stopped Annabelle from sneaking out of her house and to the barn the first night. He felt that if his old friend could not bring himself to seek help, then the next best thing would be the help he unknowingly accepted from the children. It did him good to tell the little girl about the "man" who had become like an uncle to her while inadvertently talking about Wheeljack and Jazz.

"-ven been listening to me Prime? I swear, your attention span is nearly as terrible as Bumblebee's when he's hyped up on rust sticks. You're a Prime—you should have had plenty of practice on how to keep your processor from wandering!"

Optimus chuckled and threw an arm across Ratchet's shoulder in a comradely fashion. "Even a Prime has his flaws. Now let us join the others and see how much of Jazz's love for music still thrives in Jaden."

Ratchet harrumphed in exaggerated displeasure but allowed Optimus to direct him back to the patio where the children (plus Sideswipe) sat in a semi-circle around Jaden as the boy proudly displayed his simple guitar. The medic spent the rest of the day observing the others interacting with each other, only having to smack a few heads for being stupid or lewd in their behavior. He didn't even mind when the children flocked to him for more stories (though he did viciously glare at Sideswipe for pretending to do the same).

The medic was sad to see the Robinson/Epps family depart the next morning but felt assured that he would get to know Jaden more in the future. Until then, he would continue tell an eager Annabelle all about Ironhide.

* * *

"Special" II

Easter

Lorraine hummed a nameless song as she rinsed the pan she had used to make supper that night. She paused at the sound of loud bang behind her and glanced over her shoulder towards the living room. Nothing looked disturbed, so she shrugged and turned her attention back to the task at hand, placing the pan onto the drying rack and moving on to the plates.

Another thud made her turn halfway around with suspicious eyes that darted to every corner. When nothing popped out at her, she slowly turned back to the sink. The third thud had her turning around at almost lightning speed and pursing her lips as she searched both the kitchen and adjacent living room for what did not belong or was now missing. Three consecutive loud sounds _always_ meant Jaden was up to something sneaky and he was too excited with what he did to be the quiet kind of sneaky he usually was.

Now what was that boy up to? There was no slippery substance on the kitchen floor in his attempt to create another indoor Slip 'n Slide; he wasn't standing on a chair with belts and rubber bands tied together to use as a bungee cord from the ceiling fan; nor was he ducking behind furniture and humming the "Mission Impossible" theme (courtesy of Zach's teaching). In fact, nothing seemed out of place…

A smile suddenly swept across her face as she finally noticed the bright purple egg wedged between the arm and the back of the couch. She reached behind her and turned the water back on but continued to stare into the living room. Just as she had concluded from the egg, she had a little "Easter bunny" paying her a visit.

Jaden hopped across the living room, his paper bunny ears flopping forward onto his face as he quickly placed another egg by the leg of the coffee table before hopping back out of sight. He was so quick that if she hadn't been diligently watching she would have missed him. He continued to strategically hide eggs throughout the living room while the water ran in the kitchen. He only faltered once when the bunny ears he had made at daycare fell onto the floor from the force of his hops, but that didn't even slow him down much.

Lorraine watched him, smiling indulgently when he stood on his tippy toes to put an egg beside TV, until he happened to turn towards the kitchen and freeze when he realized she had been watching him. He hopped across the hallway and into the kitchen, making her giggle when he stopped in front of her to pout and try to wiggle his nose like a stereotypical bunny. "Mommy! You're no' s'pposed ta watch me hide da eggs. That's cheatin'!"

The woman bent down to kiss her bunny on his wiggling nose, making him giggle. "I didn't mean to cheat. You just make such an adorable bunny that I couldn't look away."

"Ah'm not 'dorable! Ah'm a big boy, an' big boy's make tough bunnies."

It was hard to control her laughter at that statement. A tough bunny? That had to be some kind of oxymoron. Jaden made it harder not to laugh by turning in a circle and allowing her to see the cotton balls he had glued together and then stuck to the bottom of his shorts.

He didn't seem to notice the snort Lorraine emitted in her attempt to keep her laughter in as he adjusted the cotton balls to hang less crooked. "How're you gonna hunt fo' eggs if you know where dey are?"

Lorraine pursed her lips in thought, though she already knew a solution to the problem. "Why don't we save them for Sebastian? Samantha and Zach said they'd celebrate Easter with us tomorrow since the rest of their family lives so far away."

Jaden mused over this solution before enthusiastically nodding. "Ah need ta hide the other eggs for Sebby!"

The mother watched her son hop back into the living room to grab the rest of the eggs and begin to hide them throughout the small room. She shook her head when he placed a pink one precisely on top of the candy dish they had sitting on the coffee table. "I hope you had enough candy to put in all those eggs."

Jaden blinked and looked down at the four eggs he had left to hide. "You s'posed ta put candy in 'em?"

"Of course you are silly! How else is the candy gonna get in them eggs?"

"The Easter Bunny!"

Lorraine shook her head at him, but of course, any child who believed a rabbit left them chocolate goodies overnight would believe that same rabbit magically put all the candy in the plastic eggs. "Well, if you didn't put the candy in the eggs, then what did you do with that big bag of chocolate?"

The boy's eyes darted around the living room as he slowly put the eggs down and began to sidle out of the room and down the hallway towards their bedroom. "It's no' under my bed…or yours. Mommy, Ah have ta, uh, ge' somethin' important from da bedroom. You stay here!"

She shook her head at the sound of him running down the hallway and slamming the door shut before turning back to finish the dishes. At least now she knew where one of his hiding spots was. Maybe she'd be able to find that set of pots that "mysteriously" vanished a month ago after Jaden discovered they made a good set of drums.

* * *

**AN:** I know I've said over, and over, and over, and over again that Jaden wouldn't meet the Autobots until he was older, but to me he hasn't _officially_ met them yet (hence the name of the chapter). He just thinks they're friends with Bobby, not twenty feet tall robots :) I also had plans for Bumblebee, Sam and Carly to be there, but I figured those two would go back home and be together with 'Bee watching over them like the good guardian we know he is.

And Easter is coming up, so I thought I'd put another "Special" up for it. Truth be told, I just thought the image of Jaden jumping around with rabbit ears and a cotton ball tail was just too adorable to pass up X3 Happy Easter people!


	17. Stare Off

**AN:** le sigh~ School's been killing me these last two or three weeks. Sorry it's taken so long update :( Finals are in two weeks, so hopefully after that I'll have more time to focus on my stories :D

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Sixteen

Stare Off

* * *

"So Jaden, did you have fun visiting your brother?"

"Mmhmm."

"Did you meet new people?"

"Yup."

"Did you show off those mad guitar skills?"

"Uh huh."

"Sam! I think Jaden's broken."

Samantha glanced up her textbook and notes and stared into the living room where she could see the back of Zach's head above the couch. On the other side she knew that Sebastian was in his bouncer and Jaden sat beside him, most likely attempting to engage the four month old in play. It was an odd day when Mattie wasn't there to help keep Jaden entertained, but he was currently off on his summer vacation with his mom and dad.

With both of the boy's being on the very edge of too old to stay at the Little People Academy, Samantha had gladly volunteered to keep the two children while on the adoption leave she had been granted once Sebastian became her official child. And while she studied for the finals in her classes to get that coveted Bachelor's degree in early childhood education, Zach was the perfect babysitting partner since his shift at work didn't start until around four. It was the perfect opportunity to transition both Jaden and Mattie out of daycare while giving her boyfriend the chance to learn how to actually take care of kids.

Except she was beginning to learn that while Zach was far more attentive than most men she had been with in the past, he also tended to take things _very_ out of proportion. Just the other day, Sebastian had developed a mild diaper rash that wasn't anything to fret over. However Zach had hysterically insisted that they take the baby to the hospital and have it checked, just in case it was one of the beyond rare diseases that no one was aware of until it almost killed them.

So hearing that Jaden was suddenly "broken" didn't cause her to worry much.

"Jaden, are you broken?"

"No!"

"He isn't broken Zach."

Zach twisted around to look over the couch and saw his girlfriend had already returned to studying. "_Sam! _I'm serious. Something's wrong with our Jaden."

Samantha paused to smile at the statement. Now he understood why she always referred to Jaden in the same way. After a certain amount of time spent with the boy, you just couldn't help but "adopt" him as your own. It seemed to work in reverse with Jaden, and while the five year old hadn't gotten to the point of wholly accepting Zach as he did with her, Mattie, and Sebastian, she knew it wouldn't take much longer for him to.

"I think he needs to go to the hospital."

She sighed as Zach pulled her from her thoughts and stood up from the table. She meandered into the living room and leaned up against the back of the couch to see Jaden and Sebastian in the middle of the floor. Sebastian, as he always did, lay contently in his blue bouncer and stared almost blankly at the current object of his attention: Jaden. Jaden stared back with his wide expressive eyes and was slowly, almost unnoticeably, inching closer and closer to the baby's face.

"They've been doing this for nearly an hour," Zach said uncomfortably while looking up to her for unasked guidance. "I mean, it's not unusual for Baby Seb to stare at things without blinking, but Jaden is normally bouncing off the walls or demanding to learn a new song on the guitar. He's never _this quiet._ I think he's sick."

Samantha sighed at his exaggerated worry and walked around the couch to sit on the floor beside the boys. Jaden didn't turn to acknowledge her presence in any way but simply continued to inch closer to Sebastian. "Jadey-poo, are you sick?"

"No."

"Do you feel bad in anyway?"

"Nu uh."

The woman looked back at her boyfriend with an expression of "told you so", but he insistently gestured at her to continue. She sighed and turned back to the dark skinned boy. "Jaden, why are you making Zach worry about you?"

"Ah'm not!"

"Then why don't you want to play with him? Or learn more music to play for me?"

Jaden's eyes squinted halfway shut before he opened them even wider than before. "Ah'm busy."

"Busy doing what?"

It was then that Jaden's face was close enough for Sebastian to jerk his balled hand up to hit his cheek with a characteristic grunt. Jaden yelped at the sudden attack and fell backwards onto his back, eliciting a rare giggle from the baby. The older boy gave a mock growl and bounced back up to pout at the baby. "Ugh! You win again Sebby. You good at starin' contests. Let's go again!"

And Jaden and Sebastian were off on another staring contest, Sebastian looking bored with the activity and Jaden staring with abnormally widened eyes. Samantha laughed when she looked up and saw Zach's incredulous face, patting him on the top of his blond head as she got up to return to her books. Eventually she heard Zach get over his shock and join in on the staring contests, teasing Jaden when he lost and happily congratulating Sebastian for his wins, which led to loud shouts for Samantha to get the camera whenever Sebastian smiled at him.


	18. Kindergarten

**AN:** A new chapter :) I believe as my finals are knocked out one-by-one, I'll start updating both of my stories in weekly intervals (which means, if I stick to this schedule, this story will be updated again on Mother's Day while my other story is updated next weekend). That gives me a week to solely focus on each fic :)

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Seventeen

Kindergarten

* * *

"Is my new teacher gonna be like Mrs. R?"

"I don't know; she might be."

"Can Ah eat my snack?"

"When your teacher says you can."

"Is she gonna make me take a _nap_?"

Lorraine laughed at Jaden's revulsiontowards the stressed word while happily skipping beside her, his new Toy Story backpack banging against his back with each skip as he swung around a matching lunchbox. Jaden, like most other child the night before their first official day of school, had been bouncing off the walls with excitement last night. She thought she'd never get a good night's sleep with him popping up from his pillow and waking her up just to ask a new question. When she finally did fall to sleep, she was awakened shortly after by the sound of Jaden sneaking around the apartment to triple check his backpack and make sure his brand new notebook and crayon box full of the stereotypical supplies needed for Kindergarten were inside.

An impressed gasp brought Lorraine back to the present, and she smiled down at her son looking wide eyed at the school building. It was slightly bigger than the childcare center he was used to and there were a lot more children, his age and older, milling around the front door as parents dropped them off.

Jaden's smile slowly broadened as they got closer and closer, and he was almost vibrating with giddiness as they crossed threshold. He pointed at all the posters that decorated the main lobby, and Lorraine kept her hand on top of his excited head to keep him from running down the short hallway to the rotunda that served as the epicenter of the school, where light streamed through the windows above to create various beams.

"It's so pretty" Jaden said in awe, peeking around his mother's leg at the rotunda.

Lorraine hummed as she skimmed the list of Kindergarten classes for his name. "What is sweetie?"

"The ligh'." He paused and tugged on her shirt. "Ah wanna touch it!"

The woman paused her skimming to look down at her son. "What?"

"Ah wanna touch da ligh'!"

Lorraine stared down into his insistent blue eyes and shook her head at his oddly _normal_ behavior. "Baby, it's just light. Now let's get you to class."

"Light!"

"Alright, go run through it one time. But then we have to get you do class before your new teacher starts without you."

And thus, Jaden's first day of Kindergarten began with an enthusiastic run around the rotunda and a first glance for the higher grade teachers of what their futures might hold.

**~:0:~**

Jaden just didn't understand. How hard was it for Mrs. Z to understand that Mattie should be in the same class as him?

"You're coloring out of the lines stupid!"

And that Robin shouldn't be? Jaden turned to glare at the girl kneeling beside him and leaning on the stool that also served as a desk when needed. Robin had never liked Jaden since the very first day they had met at daycare, the day that Jaden had refused to play daddy for her and her friends' baby doll. Normally she wasn't so annoying with her friends or even Mattie around, but none of them were in the same class. Robin was the only one Jaden even knew!

"Mrs. Z lady!" Jaden shouted at the woman on the other side of the class showing a small group how to draw a cat. "Ah'm done! Can Ah go get Mattie now?"

The teacher finished with the group before coming over to check on the two children. "My name is Mrs. Zaragoza, um." She paused and looked down at the name tag tapped to stool. "Jaden. Why don't you try to say it?"

Jaden looked at her with big innocent blue eyes. "Mrs. Z lady, Ah wanna go find Mattie."

The teacher's eye twitched and the five year old tilted his head to the side with curiosity. He'd never seen anyone's eye twitch at such a frequent rate as his new teacher's had, and he'd only been there long enough to draw a picture of everything he liked! "Who's Mattie?"

"My bestest friend." Jaden held up his paper to show her the orange and green blob that represented Mattie in his picture. "They ma'e a mistake an' put 'im in da wrong room."

"Well maybe they put you in two different rooms to make new friends," the teacher said, attempting to get the hyperactive child to settle down. He had been insistently asking about this "Mattie" since he had arrived. "Why don't you try being friends with…Robin today?"

Both children glared at each other without pause before Jaden turned and pointedly ask, "Where Mattie at?"

Mrs. Z sighed in defeat but put her most beatific smile on her face. "He's probably in one of the other classrooms. Can you tell me what these black lines are?"

Jaden sighed in exasperation, as it was _obvious_ what the black dots and squiggles were. "Dey're music notes. Ah love music. Which classroom Mattie in?"

"That's wonderful! I like music too. And your friend is probably in one of the classroom down this hallway. I'm sure you'll see him later." Her smile faltered at the sudden pursing of lips and shifty eyes that crossed her new student's face. "What is it?"

"Do da vents in here go to da otha' rooms?"

The woman blinked in total confusion before standing back up and calling for attention, and everyone moved to where the "reading corner" was located. Except for Jaden and Robin, who both stayed at their desks.

"You can't reach the vent like at daycare," Robin haughtily stated when she noticed the boy beside her was eyeballing the vent above the art closet. "It's too high."

"Nobody asked 'ou!" Jaden snapped back as he pouted. She was right—it was too high for him to reach even if he found a chair. "Go play house or somethin' else girly."

She stuck her tongue out at him and went back to drawing her flower. Jaden glanced around the room for some other means of leaving without being seen, but the only way out seemed to be the door where his mommy had wished him a good day, which (_of course_) was located in plain sight of the reading corner. No matter how sneaky he was, the teacher would notice the door opening and closing…

"I'll help you."

Jaden snapped his head in the direction of the voice and stared at Robin in disbelief. Okay…_what?_ "Wha'?"

The little girl huffed in annoyance. "You are so _slow_. I said I'd help, but only if you pinkie promise to do something for _me._"

The boy bit his lip in thought. This was the hardest decision he had ever had to make in his short, five year life. To accept help from his…well, the closest thing he could consider a rival? But he was used to two-man operations: he and Mattie made a great team together. He had to get his buddy in crime back! "If 'ou tattle-tell on me…"

"Only if you don't pinkie promise."

Jaden pouted as he reached his hand out, pinkie outstretched. Robin nearly smirked as she hooked her own finger around his. "Okay, you go wait by the door 'till I give you the signal."

As the girl ran towards the group of restless kids being read too, Jaden crossed his arms across his chest and marched to the door. He was usually the one making the plans—awesome plans that involved more than waiting by the door—not the other way around. He didn't really like being told what to do by _Robin._ The only thing that kept him in this was the thought of getting out and finding his friend. They were supposed to be enjoying their first day of Kindergarten _together._

There was a sudden shriek from the group and everyone was suddenly running in different directions, girls squealing in terror while the boys yelled and pointed at the floor. The teacher was actually the loudest, screaming at the top of her lungs and jumping up into her chair to use the book in her hand as some kind of shield. Jaden stared with his mouth wide open in shock when he spotted the agile white streak zipping around the floor, making a beeline towards Robin and jumping into her hand.

That…that wasn't right! Girls didn't have white rats as pets; it completely broke the unwritten code of girls and boys. Girls were supposed to be scared of things like rats and bugs and other icky things while boys loved them. Except for Mattie—Mattie didn't share the same interest in beetles that Jaden did, which was alright. But it didn't change the fact that girls didn't have rats for pets!

Jaden shook his head and slipped out of the door when he noticed Robin pointedly glaring at him. Whatever, he'd have to deal with this breaking of code later. He glanced up and down the hallway and found that it was empty for the moment. It wouldn't stay that way, not with the way his class was screaming, but he was kind of hoping for that. It would make it easier to find Mattie if a few teachers came out of their classrooms to see what the disturbance was.

As if on cue, the door immediately to the right of his classroom opened. Jaden quickly flattened against the wall and watched as the new teacher walked past him without a second glance. Being short had its perks, and he had learned early on that a lot of adults rarely looked _down_, which kinda didn't make sense because they worked with little kids. Not that he was complaining or anything.

He peeked into the first room—cheerfully waving at the curious looks he got—and continued on when he didn't find Mattie. More and more teachers opened their doors to figure out what the yelling was about, which had moved out into the hallway as his teacher frantically clung to the first teacher that had responded to the noise, and Jaden was easily able to peek into each room before moving on.

Ultimately, Jaden wasn't even the one who found his friend. Mattie found _him._

"Found you."

Jaden twisted around with a grin to find Mattie placidly leaning out of the doorway of the bathroom. He sidled up to the redhead and watched his still panicked teacher being led away by another woman. "How'd 'ou ge' out o' your room?"

"Had to use the potty…then didn't go back. I knew you'd sneak out of your room soon."

Jaden gave his friend a toothy grin before he led the way back to his classroom where the teachers were beginning to disperse back to their rooms. "They put us in da wrong rooms Mattie, so Ah had ta come lookin' fo' ya! Ah had ta ge' _Robin's_ help, bu' dat's okay. Now we cans 'ave fun!"

Mattie nodded as they slipped into Jaden's classroom and casually sat on the floor beside Jaden's desk. Robin scrutinized them for a moment before going back to cooing and stroking her pet rat. Jaden nudged his friend, who was looking at the small rodent with wide green eyes. "See? She no' so bad now. Still mean, bu' okay."

"She gots a rat…"

"You wanna see?" Robin asked, eagerly shoving her pet under Mattie's nose. He frantically shook his head, and the girl seemed to almost pout as she put the rodent back into her pocket.

"Alright class!" The trio looked towards the front of the class to see a new, slightly flustered lady gesturing for all the kids to gather around her. "Mrs. Zaragoza…isn't feeling too well, so she went home early. I'm going to be your teacher for the rest of the day. Why don't we start on some letters?"

Jaden grunted as he was shoved to the side while Mattie went to grab the supplies that the new teacher was handing out. He glared at Robin, who glared back with the same intensity. "Wha'?"

"You still owe me _Jay-den._"

Mattie wasn't too surprised when he returned to find the two glaring at each once more. He had a feeling it was going to be a _long_ school year with the two of them constantly bumping heads.

**~:0:~**

And that was how the first day of their official school career began: Jaden and Robin's teacher quit due to the "post-traumatic stress brought on by her attack"; after careful consideration and the multiple times the two managed to sneak out of their classrooms, the principal decided to officially move the two boys into the same class (but not before Jaden had run rampant through the school with tubs of glitter glue; Mattie silently pulled the fire alarm four times; and Robin once again released her rat in the lunchroom—all of which could _not_ be traced back to them); and Mattie unknowingly got his first "girlfriend", per Jaden and Robin's pinkie promise.

Needless to say, the school faculty was a little worried what the rest of the year had in store for them.

* * *

**AN:** I think Robin may be popping back in from time to time from this point forward. Jaden needs a little "rivalry" ;) There may be a little time skip ahead of us since it appears this story may turn out to be longer than I thought it would go (but that's what happens when you start a story with no definite plan). My goal is for the story to end around the time Jaden turns twenty five—we're only at age five. So time skipping shall come into play at some point ;)

Until my next update :D


	19. Bilingual

**AN: **Hola! I just want to address something real quick before starting: an anonymous review asked whether Jaden will ever remember being Jazz and the answer is obviously yes, but it will be a while before that happens and he understands what "being Jazz" means. Also, as the chapter title suggests, we got some other languages in this chapter. Just know that the basic meaning behind each phrase is either "Good morning!" or "How are you?" (according to Google Translate) :)

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Eighteen

Bilingual

* * *

"Buenos días! ¿Cómo estás?"

Mattie blinked while Jaden gaped at the beaming girl in front of them, the ball he had been playing with slipping through his limp fingers. "Coma whata whata?"

Robin's smile was wiped from her face as she scowled at the two boys. "Not that! '¿Cómo estás?'! It means 'how are you?' in Spanish. Do you like my new dress Mathew?"

The redhead tilted his head and watched the girl twirl in her new flowery ensemble. He hummed in approval and the girl went back to beaming while Jaden simply rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses. Who even called Mattie by his full name? Apparently as Mattie's "girlfriend" his common name was just too, uh, common for her to use. It was like reverse nicknaming…if there was such a thing. Jaden didn't know—he was still only in the first grade for Pete's sake! "Why 'ou wearin' a dress anyways? You look like a girl now."

Robin's smile magically vanished as she turned to Jaden, as it always did. Rarely were either of the children particularly "happy" with one another, the only exception being when they were—as the teachers labeled it—"getting into trouble." Jaden liked to think that his little group just had too much imagination to be confined to certain spaces for long periods of time like a classroom...or the school at all...sometimes...

Anyway, the point was Robin knew how to hold a grudge and would probably never forgive Jaden for not playing house with her back in daycare. He didn't particularly care about that now, having accepted her presence throughout the school year, but whatever. If she wanted to stay mad about it then let her be; he'd just continue to tease her about stuff, like the fact that this was the first time he'd seen her wear a dress all year.

"My abuelita gave it to me when she visited," Robin haughtily explained as she gripped her ruffled skirt in her fists. "I'm gonna speak Spanish _all day_ 'cause that's what she uses."

The boys looked at each other with confusion before Jaden asked, "Wha' Spanish?"

The girl stared at them wide eyes, as if she couldn't believe they didn't know what it was already. "It's the language that my abuelita and papá speak, and they use it whenever my abuelita comes to visit. Mama doesn't know much of it, but papá teaches us both."

"How come you never talk it before?" Mattie asked, green eyes brightening in curiosity.

"'Cause I only speak it at home. You wouldn't understand, so what's the point?"

"Teach us den!" Jaden said with excitement as they ignored the teacher calling them in from the playground to begin the school day. "Teach us how ta say com'on et'ya!"

"'¿Cómo estás?" Robin nearly screeched as the dark skinned boy butchered the saying _again._ "And no! You can't even talk English right."

Mattie stared in silent shock as the girl stomped away towards the teacher. He worriedly glanced over at his friend but couldn't tell whether he was hurt or insulted by Robin's insult because of the sunglasses that hid his eyes. He did, however, see his friend's lip quirk up at the corner and his jaw set in grim determination. "You okay Jaden?"

"Ah'm gonna show 'er!" Jaden voiced as if he hadn't heard Mattie's tentative question. "Ah'm gonna learn 'nother language too. One she don' know!"

Mattie merely sighed as he followed in Jaden's stomping footsteps. He should have been used to this by now.

**~:0:~**

"Sammy! Can 'ou teach me 'nother language?"

Samantha blinked and stared down at Jaden as she absently fed Sebastian a spoonful of applesauce. Mattie, who stood behind the other boy, merely sighed and vanished into the living room where he was happily greeted by Zach. "Why do you want to learn another language?"

"'Cause Robby's a big bu'hole!"

"_Jaden Robinson,_ you do not call other people that."

Jaden looked mildly reprimanded and ducked his head in sincere apology. "Sorry Sammy…can 'ou teach me?"

Samantha sighed and grabbed a rag in preparation to clean Sebastian after he had snatched the spoon of applesauce away and attempted to feed his bird. She should really think about cleaning the stuffed animal soon... "I'm sorry Jadey-poo but I don't really know any other language. I took high school French a long time ago but can't remember a thing."

Jaden huffed and abandoned her and Sebby in the kitchen to join the other boys. "Zach! Can 'ou teach me 'nother language?"

"I taught you the language of music. Isn't that enough?"

The woman shook her head with a smile as Jaden didn't hesitate to tell Zach exactly how "not enough" that was.

**~:0:~**

"Mommy, can 'ou teach me 'nother language?"

Lorraine hummed in interest as she folded and set aside the towel that would be used later. Jaden flicked at the bubbles that dominated his bathwater and made a sound effect for Pow as the rubber ducky cut through the froth. "What kinda language you wanna learn baby?"

"No' Spanish," her son vehemently answered, making the woman turn to him with a raised brow.

"And why not?"

"'Cause Robby knows it."

Lorraine couldn't help but chuckle and shake her head as she went about straightening the things on the counter. "I see. You wanna impress Robby with what you learn, huh?"

Water rained out of the bathtub as Jaden smacked the surface and looked up at his mom with wide eyes. "No! Robby says Ah can' learn no other language 'cause…'cause Ah can' speak English right…"

The mother frowned at the sad admission and carefully knelt down beside the tub, reaching into the water to grab the little boy's hands and sliding him over to directly look at her. "Now lis'en 'ere son, there aint no reason to be sayin' that. You talk _just right_, ya hear? Just 'cause you don' talk like nobody else don' make it wrong."

Jaden laughed as the woman's accent slipped out, heavily coating her words. Usually it wasn't so thick, contributing to the many years she had lived in the city on the west coast, but every once in a while like when she was excited or extremely upset it came through. Now it was done purposely, but Jaden didn't mind. He liked to hear his mama talk that way.

Lorraine smiled in response and sloppily kissed his forehead, inspiring more giggles. "Now, if ya really wanna learn a new language, I know the perfect person to get ya started. You hurry up with your bath and we'll call 'im up."

For once Jaden chose not to dally in the bathtub and left poor Pow to sit in the suds.

**~:0:~**

"Guten Morgen!"

Mattie shook his head as Robin, now sporting her usual "tomboy" outfit of a t-shirt and shorts, stared wide eyed at the grinning Jaden. Now he was happy that he had accidentally forgotten his sunglasses at home because her reaction wasn't filtered in any way. "Wie geht…um…es Ihnen?"

The greeting was extremely hesitant and there was no denying a word or two had been completely butchered, but the fact that neither knew what he had just said made him proud. He didn't even care when Robin's expression turned from gaping to glaring. "You made that up!"

"Nu uh!" Jaden quickly denied, and they stood there with their noses inches from each and glaring with equal intensity. "You just _jealous_ 'ou aint da only one who can talk 'nother language!"

Robin's cheeks reddened to comic proportions before she huffed and stomped off to sit beside the teachers for the rest of their morning recess. Jaden looked positively proud of himself as he turned to face his ginger friend, who only rolled his green eyes at the boy's behavior. "Guten Morgen, Mattie!"

"Where you learn that?"

"My big brother Bobby! Mommy says 'e was s'pposed ta go to, uh, Germany 'fore 'e got moved someplace else. He taught wha' 'e knew durin' da weekend!"

"What else you learn?"

"Uh…dat's it. Bu' 'e promised ta teach me more la'er."

Mattie remained largely unimpressed as Jaden began to run around the playground and astound their classmates with all he had learned. He still didn't get why saying stuff that other people didn't understand was such a big deal. But whatever made Jaden happy tended to make every else's day a whole lot easier.

* * *

"Special" III

Mother's Day

Jaden squinted his radiant blue eyes behind his yellow, crescent shaped sunglasses and scrutinized his current dilemma with a frown. One indifferent brown eye stared back at him, the other hidden behind the oval shaped lens of the sunglasses he had specifically picked out for his "brother" (hey, Jaden wasn't about to let Sebby run around without a cool pair of shades!) as Sebastian pointedly jerked his hand away from the tray of bright purple paint.

"Sebby!" Jaden snapped in an attempt to mimic Lorraine or Sammy's "I'm-not-happy-with-you" voice. It obviously failed when all the one year old did was push his oversized glasses back into place and went back to flapping the wings of his black and golden stuffed bird. Jaden was tempted to snatch it away in order to regain his attention but admirably resisted for a six year old. Much had been learned about Sebastian in the short year since his arrival, and though he communicated in only grunts or the occasional scream, he had a _very_ specific way of conveying his dislike.

Who knew the glare of a baby could be more deadly than a full grown adult?

"Sebby," Jaden repeated, reaching for the reluctant hand again. "You gotta put yo' han' in da paint, so we can pu' yo' han'print on Sammy's card like we do in school!"

Sebastian growled and jerked his birdie around to wack Jaden in the head. The older boy yelped and lurched sideways to keep his balance, but Sebastian wasn't done. He had had enough of Jaden's attempts to put his hand in the tray of paint, and the way he reached out to pull on Jaden's ear conveyed his annoyance quite nicely.

Paint flew everywhere as Jaden shrilly yelped and lurched to the side in pain. Sebastian stared over his slipping sunglasses at his paint splattered brother and the ruined sheet of plastic that was placed beneath them for this very reason. A slow smiled spread across his face before quiet giggling followed, and Jaden scowled at him, half of his face now a lovely shade of purple and ear still throbbing from the pinch, but his scowl didn't last long as he too smiled. It wasn't often that anyone heard Sebastian laugh or even saw him smile, so Jaden couldn't stay mad at him.

"Jaden," a loud whisper came from the door as it cracked open and Zach peeked in. "I don't think I can keep them –oh wow. You two made a bigger mess than I thought you would."

"Sebby won' sign 'is card!" Jaden explained quickly as he stood up. "See?"

Zach spazzed out for a short moment, quickly reaching out to grab the six year old before he could step off the plastic and ruin the carpet. He sighed in relief as Jaden giggled at him and Sebastian continued to silently smile. "Let's just give Sam the card. She'll know who it came from."

"No," the stubborn boy immediately refused. "He's gotta sign it like me." He held up the card he had made for his own mom and opened it for the man to see the green handprint and sloppy signature inside.

Zach stared at the card, paying more attention to the crudely drawn stick figures representing Jaden and his mom, before glancing down at Sebastian, who was fixing his glasses again and avoiding the spilt paint like it was some kind of contagious disease. That made sense—Sebastian sometimes freaked out when his food fell on his bib or refused to be put in his crib until all of his toys had been put been properly taken care of. He was the closet thing to a baby neat freak that Zach had ever seen. "Seb doesn't like getting dirty. Maybe I can sign his name for him."

Jaden frowned at the idea but relented with a sigh and handed the man the card and one of the crayons they had been using. "Fine, bu' it no' da same."

Zach smiled and pretended to concentrate very hard on signing Sebastian's name with an exaggerated flourish before reaching down to collect said child. "Alright come on. Your mom and Sam started getting suspicious when I volunteered to make cookies with them."

Jaden snickered and followed them after making sure he wasn't trailing paint. He jogged down the short hallway and beamed when they entered the kitchen where the two women were sitting at the table nibbling on cookies and chatting away. He rushed over to Lorraine, ignoring how the drying paint felt as it stretched to accommodate his grin, and held out his card with a flourish. "Happy Mommy's Day!"

* * *

**AN:** Sometimes I just _feel_ the cavities forming when I write cutesy things like these "specials" ;P As I said in the previous chapter, little time skips may begin to appear in the upcoming chapters, so if there is any confusion as to what age Jaden is in a particular chapter don't hesitate to ask. I try to put something in each chapter to show his age, but sometimes even I get confused :P

'Till next time :D


	20. Wedding Bells

**AN:** Surprise update XD! I've got about three chapters written at this point and because the chapters for this story are on average about 3000 words per chapter, I decided that I could do a little multiple updates this week instead of waiting for Sunday. Because I love all you dear readers, I'll be updating again on Friday and then Sunday. I hope you guys enjoy :D

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Nineteen

Wedding Bells

* * *

Jaden resisted the urge to yawn and grabbed another crayon to scribble across his paper. Sebastian, who was sitting beside him on the floor with his own coloring page, didn't seem at all affected by the late time and carefully colored a section of his paper a dark purple. Lorraine simply smiled down at the two before continuing her number puzzle.

It was a little odd to have the babysitting role reversed—her watching Sebastian instead of Samantha watching Jaden—but she didn't mind at all, seeing as she simply adored the one year old. He reminded her of Bobby when he was that age, temperament wise that is. Truthfully it was also a little relieving to watch a quiet child every once in a while to level out the firecracker known as Jaden.

"Sebby," Jaden started as he tiredly reach over to steady the toddler's hand. "You colorin' outta da lines again."

"Meh!" Sebastian wordlessly yelled in his high pitched voice and snatched his hand away. He flung the crayon away and grabbed another to color another section with the same amount of careful concentration. He grunted in warning and scooted his paper away when Jaden attempted to grab him again.

"Now Jaden," Lorraine said in a calming, yet firm, voice. "Don't be makin' that baby upset. You color your own picture."

"Bu' mama!" the older boy protested and looked up at her with innocent blue eyes. "He no' doin' it right!"

"He doin' it his own way. You want me to tell you how to draw your robots?"

Jaden moved his arms up to cover his page, as if to protect it, and gave her a cute pout. She shook her head with a smile and returned to her puzzle, watching Sebastian stand up and toddle to the coffee table to grab his sippy cup over the pages of her book. She knew there was no reason to worry about him going and hiding in cramped places like Jaden did at his age, but…well, let's just say she had learned to never _completely_ take her eyes off of the children.

A quick series of knocks signaled a visitor at the door, and Lorraine's smile broadened as Sebastian jerked his head in that direction and immediately headed towards the door as fast as his stubby legs could take him. Jaden was up and bouncing behind him before she could even put the effort into rolling off the couch. She groaned as her joints popped in the effort and merely sighed when Jaden unlocked the door and opened it without her permission. She had learned a long time any form of lock did not hinder the boy when he wanted to do something and had even caught him purposely locking himself into a room to pick the door open! Her son was likely the only child who could put "lock picking" on his resume before beginning the 1st grade.

Not that she would be bragging about _that_ to the other mothers.

The door was swept open, and Lorraine knew from the moment it opened that something had happened during Samantha and Zachary's "date night." Samantha positively _glowed_ as she swept Sebastian off his feet and gave him a series of sloppy kisses on his chubby cheeks. The toddler grunted but didn't protest as he nuzzled into the curve of his adoptive mother's neck. The woman spotted Lorraine in the living room and squealed with excitement as she rushed over to greet the other woman.

"Child," Lorraine teased with a chuckle as the younger female practically vibrated where she stood. "What's got you all pepped up?"

"Ms. Lori!" Samantha squealed as she nearly shoved the hand not supporting Sebastian into Lorraine's face. "He proposed!"

Jaden could only stare as his mother suddenly crowed with as much excitement as Samantha displayed, and the two hurried into kitchen talking a mile a minute. He'd never seen his Sammy so excited that she forget about him or heard his mama yell like that before. What was going? He wanted to know; Super Spy Mode activate!

"Well, that was quick. For some reason I thought she'd at least wait until after I found a place to park the car."

Super Spy Mode activation was delayed as Jaden turned to see a smiling Zach standing in the doorway, and he couldn't help but give the man the stink eye. He knew what was going on, and Jaden didn't think that was fair. Zach chose to ignore the glare he was receiving as he stepped into the apartment and shut the door. He glanced into the kitchen and spotted the women already making wedding plans, so he gestured for Jaden to follow him into the living room where they sat on the couch together.

"So," Zach started, awkwardly dragging the word as Jaden continued to glare at him. He had honestly thought that they were past the glaring stage after knowing and getting along with each other for so long. "Did Sam tell ya what this was all about?"

"No," the boy said with a pout. "Her an' mama just start yellin' and stuff 'fore goin' in da ki'chen. Wha'chu do?"

The man blinked in genuine offense at the accusation that saturated the boy's voice. "I didn't do anything _wrong_. I just…I asked Samantha to marry tonight during our date."

Jaden blankly stared at him for a moment before his glare returned, and he jumped up to stand on the couch and look the man directly in the eye. "If 'ou hurt _my_ Sammy…"

Zach gaped in surprise at the six year old who was puffing out his chest and attempting to look tougher than his short stature allowed before snorting in amusement. "No, no! I don't think you understand little man. I didn't hurt Sam; I never would. I asked her to _marry me_. So me, her, and Sebby can be a real family together."

Understanding seemed to dawn on the child, and he looked to be thinking about something really hard before a gleam Zach had never seen appeared in his eyes and the glare returned. Zach uncontrollably yelped when he was tackled, and both of them fell onto the cushions of the couch as Jaden nimbly perched on the blond's chest. "You can' take my Sammy away!"

"Jaden!" Zach squeaked in a _very_ unmanly voice as the boy gripped the collar of his shirt and shook him. When did this little kid get so strong!? "Jaden, calm down dude!"

"What is going on in there?" Lorraine asked from the kitchen.

"Just a little roughhousing!" Zach rushed to assure her even as Jaden's little hands managed to make it around his neck, and he gagged. "Boys being boys and stuff."

Lorraine hummed in understanding and went back to speaking with Samantha, and Zach grunted as he finally managed to pry the little six year old off of him. Jaden struggled to fight the man's grip but ended up yelping when he was suddenly pinned to the couch under nearly two hundred pounds of weight. "Ge' off!"

"Not until you stop freaking out," the weight bargained, and Jaden pathetically whimpered in an attempt to escape. Unfortunately, Zach was not moved at all. "What just happened little dude? I've never seen you actually someone like that before!"

"You gonna take my Sammy!" Jaden grunted, trying to get his arms beneath him in order to push up. He growled the action proved futile. "Ah no' gonna let 'ou!"

"Take your…" Zach paused in an attempt to understand where that belief had come from but only drew a blank. "How the hell did you come up with that?"

Normally Zach would feel slightly guilty for cursing in front of a child. He wouldn't go around and praise himself for having the cleanest vocabulary (as a matter of fact, it was anything but _clean _when he was seriously…angry), but ever since he begun to hang around children and Sebastian had come along, he had considerably cleaned up said vocabulary to the point of almost being ashamed when a curse slipped out and Jaden and/or Mattie gaped at him with innocent surprise.

At this moment in time, he was just too busy trying to keep a kid from strangling him to care.

"You gonna marry my Sammy, an' den 'ou gonna be a family with 'er an' Sebby, an' den dey gonna fo'get 'bout me!"

Jaden struggled beneath the shocked man until he was able to wiggle out an arm and swing just the right way to backhand the unsuspecting adult. Zach grunted in surprise and rolled off the boy, accidently rolling too far and off the couch with a yelp. Jaden stared down at him for a moment before he started to laugh at the look of utter disbelief Zach was giving him. The man grunted in pain and carefully sat up. "At least my pain can bring you joy."

The laughter cut off just as suddenly as it had started, and Jaden was back to glaring at the blond, making Zach sigh. "I thought we were past this little man. I'm not taking Sam away you; other than Sebastian, I think you're always the highlight of her day. Even if I wanted to take her away—which I _don't_—she'd sooner dump me than leave you." Jaden looked unconvinced, so Zach sighed and patted the floor beside him. "Get down here and let me tell you a little story."

The boy hesitated before gracefully sliding down sit beside the adult, glaring with suspicion as he did. Zach nodded and pursed his lips in thought. "I met Samantha one night when my band was playing the opening at a, uh…place. You remember me telling you about my band, right? How I used to play with some of my old high school buds as the lead guitarist, and we'd go around trying to pick up any gig we could and-" The man paused as he noticed the blank, "get to the point" glare directed at him. "Yeah…anyway the point is that when we first met Sam absolutely _hated _me."

He chuckled at Jaden's naïve shock. "Yeah shocker, right? Who could hate this handsome face? Apparently Sam didn't like musicians very much at the time. It took me a while with the help of some of her college buddies to even get a second meeting with her. Man, I had never before met a girl who didn't swoon because I was in a 'band'. But eventually—and when I say 'eventually', I mean a long, constant year of playing cat and mouse—Sam finally agreed to go on our first date.

"It was absolutely horrible. The movie I had paid for us to see messed up halfway through; because of that we had to wait almost an hour and a half for our reservations at this restaurant that seemed to cost a fortune and was only chosen to show off to her; and then, I spilled my water on her lap. _Twice_."

Zach smiled at Jaden's giggles and was happy to see that unnerving gleam begin to leave the boy's eyes. "Not the best first date, and it would have been the last if Sam had had a say in it. But I was way too stubborn for her to resist and we ended up going on four more dates before she finally accepted the fact that I wasn't going to give up. No matter how many times she spilled her drink on me as a way of revenge for the first failed date.

"So when things got serious between us, she started laying down some ground rules. The first rule was that I was not allowed to take any of her gum. Unbeknownst to me, she was very possessive of that at the time and nearly cut off my hand when she caught me trying to sneak it out of her purse. Rule number two was that I picked up after myself. And that brings me to rule three: her kids were part of the package. _You_ are a definite keeper. She told me that if I couldn't get along with you, then there was no way our relationship was going to last. She loves you almost like you were her own kid."

Jaden positively beamed at that statement, just as Zach knew he would. Not that he had said it to merely manipulate the boy. Samantha really _had_ told him that when they had finally started date—Jaden having only been about a year and a half at that time. Sam took her profession with children very seriously and had known that they would be the cornerstone of the rest of her life. If he couldn't accept that, then there was no point to have even started a serious relationship.

And that was why he loved his fiancé.

"Jaden, the one thing you need to understand is that I can never take Samantha away from you because she'll never leave. Just because we get married and maybe make some little brothers and sisters for Sebastian doesn't mean either of us will just forget."

"'Kay."

"And I know this is a little hard –wait what?"

"'Kay," Jaden calmly repeated while staring at him like nothing had happened—like he hadn't just been trying to _strangle_ Zach. Zach wasn't sure if he was okay with that or not. "As long as 'ou don' take my Sammy, it's okay. Bu' if 'ou do…den we got problems."

Zach leaned away with wide eyes as Jaden ended his threat with a smile. He didn't like this side of Jaden—nope, not at all. This was just creepy on so many levels. Happy-go-lucky kids like Jaden weren't allowed to be this creepy! "Oookay…well before you…freaked out, I was going to ask you a very important question."

"Shoot."

That sounded so lethal after the strange episode they had just endured. Zach was beginning to believe he'd just been traumatized for the rest of his life. "This is very, _very_ important, but I know that you of all people will be able to do it. I want you…to be my best man."

Jaden tilted his head in question. "Wha's dat?"

"You're basically my little helper during the wedding. You get to help pick out a suit, and plan a party, and get the very important job of holding Sam's ring during the wedding service. Without you, I wouldn't be able to marry her."

The boy perked up at the last bit. "So 'ou can' marry Sammy wi'out me?"

"Nope, that's why your position is so important."

Jaden pursed his lips in thought, glancing over his shoulder at the women still chatting away in the kitchen, and looked up at Zach with the utmost solemnity. "Wha' kinda par'y we talkin' 'bout?"

Samantha was very pleased to find the boys deeply engrossed with the planning of Zach's Bachelor Party when she finally finished in-depth conversation with Lorraine, finding it even more amusing that the place for it to happen and being advocated by Jaden was Chuck E. Cheeses. And here she had worried that Jaden wouldn't like the idea of her and getting married.

* * *

**AN:** Not a time skip _yet,_ but I thought it important to add this because it shows that Jaden's got serious separation/possession issues, and it may seem a little extreme, but it will eventually be explained in full later in the story. Plus, it makes Zach and Sammy's relationship clear without me randomly mentioning they got married in a later chapter :)

I'll be seeing you guys again on Friday :D


	21. That's Normal

Rebirth

Chapter Twenty

That's Normal

* * *

Lorraine speechlessly sat in her seat and stared at Jaden's second grade teacher sitting primly behind her desk before bursting into uncontrollable laughter. Jaden, who sat at his desk behind them, looked up briefly before going back to the pencils and erasers he was playing with.

Lorraine noticed the teacher's offended frown and waved her hand in an attempt to fix the problem even as her laughter continued. "I'm sorry, but I to fail to see the humor in this situation. His condition may be very serious. I'm actually surprised that none of his former teachers has ever picked up on it."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Lorraine apologized somewhat sincerely, though her dying giggles sort of counteracted the apology. "I just thought that his 'emergency' parent-teacher conference was because Jaden had finally drove somebody crazy. Samantha, his babysitter after school, is gonna have to tell her friends the bettin's still on."

The teacher looked confused before shaking her head and deciding to ignore the odd statement. "I'm very concerned that Jaden may have an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that is hindering his learning."

"Now why would you think that?"

The woman blinked as if the question had thrown her off and gestured at the boy in question. "Well, I think it's fairly _obvious_ why."

Lorraine followed her gesture and watched as Jaden wiggled a pencil top eraser around his desk and talked in high pitched voice before switching to a pencil that had a deeper tone. She watched him for a minute before shrugging and turning back to the teacher. "I don't see it."

The woman sighed, and Lorraine fought the urge to be offended by the irritation she heard in it. The teacher was the one who called this meeting—let her be the one who explains why. "He is always getting up from his seat and wandering the classroom, speaking above me while I teach class, is easily distracted by the smallest things, and is constantly wandering off task."

"Well that's normal."

"Excuse me?"

Now it was Lorraine who was growing impatient with the teacher's lack of knowledge. "Jaden's been an active and curious child since I found him. He doesn't like having to sit in one spot for eight hours a day, and I'm sure that you've heard about him and his friends 'adventures' by now even if you are new to this school system. Everyone practically knows those little troublemakers by name. By the way, do you happen to have any art supplies in your classroom?"

"I—what?"

"You know, things like markers and crayons. Glue, paint, glitter?"

"Um, yes. The students use them during their lessons."

"I thought so. Jaden, you betta' put that paint down and get back to your desk."

The educator blinked in wonder as the boy popped out from behind the closed cabinet with a groan of disappointment and moved around to replace the tube of yellow paint he had just pilfered. She hadn't even noticed Jaden move and his mother hadn't diverted her attention from the conversation for a second! Lorraine didn't even bat an eyelash and continued where she had left off. "Now, when does he do this the most?"

"What?"

"When does he act up in class the most?"

"Math time!" Jaden chimed in as he dashed across the room after putting the paint up like he was told to. He crawled up into his mom's lap and looked up at her from behind blue tinted sunglasses. "Ah know all dat stuff, so Ah try ta help Mattie! But Mrs. Lady-Teacher put 'im all da way on da other side o' da room, so Ah gots ta move 'round ta get to 'im!"

Lorraine looked up at his teacher for an affirmative and got one in the form of a tentative nod. Once his story had been proven true, the mother took her child's sunglasses off and gently held his head between her hands to ensure that they kept eye contact. "Jaden, I know you wanna help Mattie, but you gotta do your own work. And you can't walk around the classroom or talk when Mrs. Morris is teaching. It aint fair to distract the other kids, alright?"

"Okay mommy," Jaden answer with enough sincerity that even his teacher felt she couldn't question it. "Ah won' distract nobody anymore."

He innocently smiled when Lorraine gave him a knowing look. His teacher might not need to worry about any more noticeable disruptions, but he hadn't promised to actually _stop_ his actions. There were plenty of ways for him to go from one side of the classroom to the other without drawing the attention of the students or the teacher, and he wasn't about to just let Mattie fall behind because the boy couldn't learn his times tables as fast as the others.

There was no denying that Lorraine's youngest son was a sneaky little negotiator.

"Alright," she said, knowing all of that but still believing Jaden would keep the promise he did make. Jaden beamed up at her and climbed off of her lap for the adults to conclude their meeting as quickly as possible. Lorraine watched him run back to his desk and engage in the make-believe game he had created before turning back to the teacher. "There, problem solved. I can't promise you won't have any more problems with him, but he won't be a distraction to no one else."

"Ms. Robinson," the woman hurriedly said as the mother stood to leave. "I'm still concerned with Jaden's learning. I don't wish for him to fall behind because of a learning disability that could have been dealt with early on."

"Mmhmm, listen here," Lorraine hummed and leaned forward so that Jaden couldn't hear. "I'm gettin' kinda offended that you've only known my boy for a handful o' days and suddenly know him betta' than _I _do. Now as his mama, I know that aint _nothing_ wrong with him. And if he had one of the so called 'learning disabilities,' wouldn't one of his other teachers have come to me about that already? He might have given them trouble through the school year and drove one or two to retire early, but they always praised him for the good work he did and how smart he is.

"And ADHD isn't a learning disability," she finished with a flourish, leaving the young teacher blinking in confusion. "Trust me, I looked that up years ago just in case. So feel free to call me back in once you've got your facts straight. Maybe I'll listen to you then."

Lorraine was proud to walk out that door without another word coming from the teacher. She had traded shifts for this? She'd actually been worried that Jaden's mischievous nature had finally gotten him into serious trouble! How was she going to get him back into a good school with a record saying he got suspended in the _second grade_? Did they even suspend children before middle school?

"Ah don' like her."

She looked down to see Jaden merrily skipping beside her while cleaning a smudge off his sunglasses. She had always found it funny at how serious he took care of his sunglasses, even the cheap, Dollar Store ones. "How come sweetie? You usually like all your teachers when you get to know them."

"She took away Robbie's hat an' made Mattie sit on da other side o' da room."

"You gonna have to learn that you and your little friends can't always have your ways."

"Ah put a tack in 'er chair!"

Lorraine only felt a little bad when her laughter noisily bounced off the walls of the empty hallway. And from that day forward, Jaden's teacher never found another legitimate reason to call the mother back in nor did she ever discover which "bad egg" of the classroom continued to leave tacks on her chair.


	22. Remembering II

**AN:** Here's the time skip I've been talking about :P I honestly meant for this to be another "Special" (considering it deals with another "real time" holiday we'll be observing here in the US tomorrow), but it completely got away from me and ended up being a decent enough length for me to just scrap the special tag and make it another chapter, which in all aspects is a good thing because I had to scrap the original chapter 21 anyways :) So I just figured this was meant be.

Time Units  
_**Breem: 8.3 minutes**_

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Twenty One

Remembering II

* * *

Jaden stood at stiff attention, staring at the many rows of gravestones set in front of him with a seriousness unbefitting for an eleven year old. It was part of a tradition that his mama had introduced to him a few years ago when she deemed him old enough to understand and had continued without excuse every year since.

Sometimes Bobby and his family joined them when they came to visit on vacation, and Jaden and Shareeka (plus the twins and little Mozambiqua) would follow Mrs. Monique around the cemetery to place flowers on the graves while Lorraine talked to Bobby, hugging one of his arms at all times and sometimes even looking she was crying.

But Bobby and the others hadn't been able to come this year (something about Bobby having to go help some old "army pals" and Mrs. Monique not having the patience to drive so many hours with five kids), so this year Jaden and Lorraine were including Samantha, Zach, and Sebastian, who had opted to stay home for this year's holiday weekend instead of going to see other parts of the family.

Jaden just figured that no one wanted drive anywhere this year, not that he even particularly cared for their reasons/excuses. He just knew that he had been given the important job of having his own bundle of flowers to divide amongst the graves for the first time _and_ keeping an eye on Sebastian since the younger boy had opted to follow him. As the current "adult" in this situation, Jaden knew that he was supposed to show Sebastian how to carefully lay a single flower on each grave before moving on to the next and to tell him to smile when that random stranger happily greeted them.

Sebastian did the flower thing very well but gave his older "brother" an "Are you serious?" look whenever Jaden told him to smile. Sebby only smiled when _he_ wanted to smile—not because some stranger smiled at him. And Jaden couldn't force him to do it either!

"Sebby, why you no smile more?" Jaden asked as he placed another bright flower on a grave. They were beginning to run out of flowers and would have to find his mom soon for more.

Sebastian gave him another look with his dark brown eyes, and Jaden was somehow suddenly reminded of their current location. "Ah mean, Ah know where we at right now aint really da best place ta practice, bu' jus' in general. Smile more…man! Don' give me dat look!"

The younger boy rolled his eyes and swatted at the black hair that fell into his face. His mom and dad were at a current standoff between letting his hair long (and by long he meant brushing the top of his ears and slightly falling into his eyes) or buzzing his hair as short as possible. He thought it was funny that one of the few things to make them not talk to each other was his hair.

Jaden gave him one of the last two flowers, and they placed the flowers on two graves at the end of the row. The older boy then closed his eyes and stood there quietly, making Sebastian blink in confusion. Since when did Jaden slow down long enough to be _silent_? His eyes popped back open and he walked away like nothing had happened. The younger boy shrugged and quickly and silently followed behind him.

"You see my mama or your mama den holla'," Jaden ordered as they traversed down the rows of graves, staying a respectful distance away from each grave marker. "If you see ya dad, den jus' go tackle 'im."

Sebastian nodded, though both of them knew that that would never happen. Sebastian didn't talk much to begin with, let alone "holla'," but he had on occasion tackled his dad before. He looked around at the graves that surrounded them. He still didn't get why they were out here putting flowers on each one, but he wasn't complaining even if it was hot. It was still better than going to see either set of his grandparents. For some reason, they liked to carry him around like a baby doll, which he highly disliked.

He was so lost in memories of old people cooing over him, pinching his cheeks, and trying to make him smile by being stupid that he didn't notice Jaden suddenly stop and ran right into the other boy. A sound between a grunt and a yelp escaped him before he could control it, and he glared up at the back of his brother.

Jaden couldn't see his glare so was able to easily ignore it as he stared out across the cemetery at what had caught his attention. "Sebby, you go fin' da others. Ah gotta, uh…go do somethin'."

Sebastian blinked as Jaden cut between the rows and raced towards a person off in the distance before shrugging and silently following Jaden from a distance. His mama had told him to stay with Jaden no matter what, and he was going to obey her because she was his mama. Daddy's orders could be bent sometimes because he was weird, but not mama's.

Unaware of his current shadow, Jaden kept his sight on the man he had spotted and been uncontrollably drawn to. As he got closer, he was able to begin making out little details of the person. Like his hands were shoved deep into the pockets of his black jacket; wisps of blond hair were peeking out from under his light grey cap; and he had some cool red and dark grey shoes. He'd have to ask the man where he got his shoes from after figuring out why he had the urge to go talk to him.

"Hey mister!"

The man jumped in surprise and spun around to find see who was yelling. Jaden found the action to be pretty funny and snickered as he came to stop beside him. The man jumped at the sound of the laughter and looked down at him with bright blue eyes that shone beneath the rim of his hat. Jaden took a moment to examine the design on the hat (it looked like a pair of red horns) and smiled up at the confused face. "Hi."

"Uh, hi?" the stranger hesitantly repeated, a tentative smile flitting across his face. "How are you?"

"Good. Ah was jus' puttin' flowers down fo' da superheroes." Jaden grew serious as he stared at the grave in front of them. "They died ta protec' us."

The man nodded just as morosely and went back to staring at the grave as well. "Yeah, they did."

"Mama says dey deserve ta be remembered all da time, bu' we only come ou' 'ere once a year'cause mama's gotta work most o' da time. My brother Bobby's a superhero too, 'cept mama says 'e works behind da scenes now, whateva' dat means." The stranger hummed in acknowledgement, and Jaden glanced up at him. "Wha' you so sad 'bout? One you're superhero die?"

"Yeah," the man answered, forcing himself to awkwardly shuffle before going stiff again. The boy tilted his head to the side at how the man managed to stay standing at stiff attention without any problem. Jaden had never been able to stand that still for long. "He died a long time ago, before I even got here. I just found out two cycl—I mean, two days ago."

Jaden didn't know what to say; he'd never had anyone close to him die before. He just knew what his mama had told him about how they should honor the dead and pray for the families left behind. He should do something for the sad man…

"It's weird that we've never thought of this," the man continued without noticing the thoughtful look to manifest on Jaden's face. "Then again, we had been at war for so long, that some of us had just become numb to death. It happened every day, but we didn't have the time to slow down and properly mourn. We used to though, at the beginning. Prime made it a point to slow down and acknowledge their sacrifice, but after so long, even _he_ couldn't keep up.

"I like it though. It's sad to remember, but those soldiers don't deserve to be forgotten. Each and every one of them died to protect another: family, friends, people they had never even met. Forgetting them is just…it just feels _wrong._" He paused and looked down at Jaden who was openly staring at the other side of the cemetery, searching for something. "I guess you're a little too young to understand that yet."

"Ah do too!" Jaden protested, snapping his head back to focus on the young stranger. "Ah jus' lookin' fo' something! Wait 'ere."

The man almost smiled as Jaden turned around to run right into Sebastian. Both boys groaned and fell over at the collision, but Jaden jumped back up without pausing. "Sebby! Ah told you ta go fin' da others. Ugh, neva'mind! Let's go fin' my mama."

He grabbed Sebastian's hand and yanked him behind as he ran across the cemetery, leaving the confused stranger behind. Sebastian staggered and tripped on the way, but Jaden barely slowed down. He didn't want the stranger to leave before he got back. So Sebastian dealt with the treatment with glares and tiny sounds of displeasure.

They found the adults quietly chatting with each other as they placed their own flowers on some of the graves. Zach was the first to spot them running between the graves, and he snatched Sebastian up as they ran past him. Sebastian released an undignified squeal and clung to his dad while Zach dramatically grunted. "Man you're getting big! I can still remember when you fit perfectly in the crook of my arm."

Jaden ignored them and ran straight to Lorraine, who was holding the last few flowers they had brought. He reached out for one of those very flowers. "Mama! Ah need one mo'e flower!"

"Of course sweetie," Lorraine said and plucked a bright orange flower from the bundle to give him. "Did you and Sebastian place all the ones you had?"

"Yep. Ah gotta go give dis ta somebody!"

Lorraine opened her mouth to ask who but could only sigh as Jaden took off across the cemetery again. She'd never thought it would be possible, but Jaden just got more and more energetic as the years went by. She wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to keep up with him.

Jaden dashed back to the other side of the cemetery, panting and sweating as the constant running finally began to have an effect on him. He wondered how the stranger could stand wearing a heavy jacket and jeans in the heat as he came to a halt beside the man. He took a moment to regain his breathe until he was finally able to give the flower without panting for air. "Here! You can pu' it on your superhero's grave, so he knows 'ou remember 'im."

"He doesn't –I…" the man stuttered before sighing and accepting the plant without complaint. "Thank you. I know he'd appreciate it."

"Coo'," Jaden said and frowned before running behind the adult. The stranger blinked and was about to turn around and see what the boy was doing when Jaden ran back around. "You should ge' a jacket with wings on da back."

"Huh? Why?"

"Ah don' know. You jus' need some wings on you shoulders." With that said, Jaden turned and ran back to join his family, grabbing his mama's hand and leaving the cemetery with one last prayer for the fallen soldiers and their families.

**~:0:~**

Bluestreak blinked and watched the little kid run away without another word. He then glance over one shoulder were his door-wings would normally be. Seeing their absence made him feel…naked. Yes, that was a good way to describe it. Maybe he could play with his new holoform to make it feel less so.

He looked down at the organic thing (a quick search on the "internet" revealed that it was a Daisy) and twirled it between the fingers of his holoform. He figured from what the boy had said and what he saw that it was traditional to place the plant on the grave of the fallen. But Jazz didn't have a pretty stone to mark his grave, nor did Wheeljack, or Ironhide, or the many others that had perished during the war.

What was he supposed to with the flower?

"Have you finished your assessment?"

Bluestreak looked up to see another person suddenly standing before him. The man was dressed in a moderate suit with his black hair slicked back against his head and a neutral expression on his face as sharp navy eyes stared straight him. If it wasn't for the fact that he had sensed when Prowl had rolled up beside where he was parked, he would be very confused at how this human had managed to sneak up on him (he just had to forget the fact that the little boy had done the same not long ago).

"Um," Bluestreak stuttered and looked down in embarrassment. While he was happy that it had been Prowl who had followed him instead of Sideswipe or one of the femmes who made it to Earth, he was still mortified by his earlier actions. He had run off like a little youngling, yelling at everyone that they were liars and Jazz couldn't have been dead. He had not listened to anything that Optimus or Sideswipe had tried to tell him through the comm. link—he'd been too determined to prove that they were wrong. Jazz was…Jazz was playing guardian to a human like Bumblebee was! That explained the saboteur's absence perfectly.

He had unconsciously driven to the place where his mentor had last been, spending nearly two days of non-stop driving until he had reached his destination. He didn't know what he had expected to find. Maybe he hadn't really expected to find anything. He just hadn't been able to handle the truth at the time and needed time to himself.

Prowl took his lack of answer in stride and stepped up to stand beside him, looking down at the random headstone he had chosen to mourn in front of. "The search tool that Optimus introduced to us upon arrival has provided me information on human traditions. 'Memorial Day,' formerly known as 'Decoration Day,' is a human holiday that is observed every year on the last Monday in the month of May. It is a day of honoring all US military personnel who have died during all wars and military actions in which the United States has been involved."

"Yeah, I looked that up too." Bluestreak paused and stared unseeingly at the stone. "I'm sorry for running off like that."

"I will choose to look past the act of insubordination this one time." Prowl paused before casually adding. "I have not heard you speak that much in one setting for a very long time."

"Were you spying on me?" was Bluestreak's immediate reaction before realizing what he had just said. His mouth clamped shut in even more embarrassment, and he crossed his arms over his chest as a preemptive to deflect any retaliation that might be said.

Prowl chose to ignore the thoughtless question and continued. "Jazz would be very surprised to see how much you have changed since you were last together. Once upon a time it was a difficult task to keep you quiet for more than a breem; now not even our most skilled interrogators can get more than a few words from you."

"War changes a mech."

"The war is over. It is no longer a valid excuse for your behavior."

Bluestreak snapped his fake body around to glare at Prowl, who was standing there like an icy statue unaffected by anything and everything going on around him. Just like usual. "Well _sorry_ for not being able to just bounce back from all the slag I've been through! 'The war's over' you say. Well I say 'So slagging what?' That doesn't just make everything better! There are tons of squadrons out there—Autobot and Decepticon alike—who aren't aware of that. _We_ weren't even aware of it until we landed on this planet and Prime told us. According to him, it's been over for five human years. We were still fighting 'Cons during that time!

"But what does that really matter," the younger mech continued as his anger died out to become something more sober—something that was constantly seen in the sharpshooter now. "In a way you're right. The war is over now that Megatron and his top lieutenants are offline. Eventually the remaining Decepticons scattered across the universe will get wind of it, and with no one to properly lead them maybe they'll begin to stop fighting, and when they stop fighting maybe the other Autobots will stop too. Everyone'll stop fighting and begin to actually realize everything we've lost: our home, our friends, our families. Just because the war's over doesn't mean they're coming back.

"Maybe we should continue to fight, if only to numb the feelings of loss and pain and to keep us from fully realizing what this stupid war has taken from us. Fighting gives us some fragged-up reason to go on—what will true peace give us?"

Silence filled the air as Bluestreak's speech came to an end. He scowled down at the ground as the very feelings he had just described began to overwhelm him. This wasn't how it was supposed to be! At some point, he had imagined how it would be when both sides finally decided to quit fighting. All of his friends would be there to hear their Prime and Megatron finally come to a truce; they would all—Decepticon and Autobot—go back to Cybertron and rebuild their home; and once their home was rebuilt, vorns and vorns later their descendants would be studying the Great War as simply another event in Cybertron's long history.

Now he just saw that as the depth of his naivety at the time.

Bluestreak never saw it coming, which just proved how slack he had become while in the presence of his commander. One minute he was glaring at the ground and then the next he had blades of grass sticking up his nose. His reaction time was so delayed that he didn't yelp in surprise until he was already on the ground. He rolled over onto his back, losing his cap in the process, and stared up at Prowl in shock. "What-"

The younger mech paused and cringed at the icy glare that the Second-in-Command was giving him. "Is that how you choose to squander your comrades' sacrifices? Find another fight to pick because you do not want to _feel_? The mech you looked up to offlined in an attempt to takedown Megatron and end this senseless war. Instead of accepting that truth and making the best of it, you are now suggesting that his sacrifice be looked over and continue to fight until we are all offlined. Jazz would not even be able to look in your direction if he heard such sentiments coming from you."

Bluestreak stared up at him with wide eyes, almost looking like the mechling the Autobots had pulled from the ruins of Praxus near the beginning of the war, before they narrowed, and he scrambled to a stand and got into the officer's face, which wasn't hard considering their holoforms made them the same height. "Oh yeah? Well that's a lot coming from you Mr. –Mr. –Mr. Ruled By Logic! You've gotta fancy little battle computer to turn your emotions off whenever you feel like it. Us lesser beings don't have that privilege!"

Prowl frowned at the raging young mech and took a step back, disengaging from a fight that had yet to begin. "My battle computer does not 'turn off my emotions' as you so elegantly put it. I do acknowledge that it allows me to strategize without the hindrance of said emotions, but that is it. I feel just as any other mech would: guilt for sending soldiers out to die; lose for every friend that does not come back from the battlefield. But I do as you cannot—I accept that emotions and move on to acknowledge the many more. Jazz did the same and waited for the day where the war would end and the positive would soon outweigh the negative.

"Wallowing in the past now would simply hinder your progress into the future. Both sides have equally loss. Now finish up here so that we may rejoin Optimus and the others and learn of our arrangements here on Earth. I believe that with our small crew's addition, the human Lennox's farm will not be big enough to house us all. We also need to finish the briefing that you ran out on."

An immense wave of guilt washed through Bluestreak as Prowl turned his back to him and walked back to his alt-mode, least the few humans wandering the grounds be spooked by a man suddenly vanishing. He hadn't meant to snap at his former guardian like that. He just…got mad at Prowl for calling him out like that. Of course he didn't really want the war to continue; deep down he was really _happy_ that it had finally ended, at least in one part of the universe.

He just wanted an excuse not to remember everything else that had happened. He wanted to pretend that Jazz was just out on a mission and would be back soon. He had been so thrilled to finally see the saboteur again! Just thinking of the mech had given him the urge to endlessly talk like he used to.

Bluestreak's eyes locked on to the orange flower he had dropped when Prowl had slapped him across the back of the head. He reached down and grabbed the stem, remembering the little boy that had given it to him. It was strange, but for some reason he had felt so much easier while talking that child. Like a weight had been temporarily lifted from his spark.

The boy had called the fallen soldiers superheroes…well, Jazz had been his superhero in a way. He'd been there to cheer the once terrified youngling up and provide the emotional support that Prowl hadn't been able to. He had made one of the darkest moments in Bluestreak's life not seem so dark. In fact, many of the friends that Bluestreak had lost had done the very same thing.

Superheroes weren't meant to be forgotten—they were celebrated for the good deeds they did.

Prowl barely glanced over at the sound of someone running towards him and falling into step beside him. Bluestreak twirled the flower between his fingers before slowly picking the petals off and allowing them to fly away on the breeze. One was bound to find its way to where his comrades had been laid to rest on this planet.

"Do you remember that time when Jazz and Blaster held that 'VIP party' in the rec-room? They gave out all those silly invitations to everyone on base, and whoever managed to hang on to them until the party were the only ones allowed in. I remember Ratchet blowing a fuse when he found out that Wheeljack was trying get in by bargaining super industrial magnets to stick Mini-Bots to the walls because he'd accidentally dropped his invite into a beaker of Perceptor's acid. And then there was that one when Smokescreen-"

A rare smile flitted across the tactician's face as the young mech continued to babble on about various stories starring Jazz and other Autobots that had returned to the Well of Sparks. He'd never been happier to listen to someone's pointless prattling.

* * *

**AN:** I feel like Bluestreak completely high jacked this chapter. I originally planned to have a chapter introducing Jaden and the crew into middle school, but I got to working on the Memorial Day special and what was supposed to be short and sweet like the previous specials kept going and going and getting serious until I just decided to make it a chapter (which is basically another way of saying exactly what I said in the first AN :D). It's really Hasbro's fault because they made a Bluestreak toy in which his toy bio says he doesn't talk anymore. Now he has a reason to talk again :D

(It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I simply adore Bluestreak and his cuteness :3)


	23. Five Reasons for Having a Best Friend

**AN:** I decided to go ahead and update this story today too because...well, once you finish reading it, I'm sure you'll understand why. It's short and written in a way that's completely new to me, but I thought it was a good way to show how Mattie and Jaden's friendship had evolved over the timeskip ;D

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Twenty Two

Five Reasons for Having a Best Friend

* * *

Reason number one: they give you extra tater tots at lunch (yum).

Reason number two: they serve as an excellent excuse for why you can't date yet (sorry ladies!).

Reason number three: they serve as an excellent excuse for why you can wander around the mall without parental supervision (but this only works on Zach for some reason…).

Reason number four: they are the perfect lookout (not that I need a lookout for anything).

Reason number five: they are an effective source for-

"Jaden you can't put point five your essay."

"Aw! Why no' man?"

"In fact, you can't put any of these points in your essay. Is this why we're friends? So you can constantly use me?"

"Ah don' _constantly_ use you…those are jus' da interestin' reasons fo' havin' friends."

"What about companionship?"

"Uh…"

"And honesty?"

"Hmm."

"And I won't give you my tater tots if you use those for your essay."

"Come on man! Ev'rybody an' dere brotha' gonna be using da obvious stuff! Ah gotta show dis new teacher Ah'm diff'rent. That you're not jus' like any other best friend."

"You can't use four or five. And why would even have two? No one's ever asked you out before."

"That's 'cause you're always dere! Thanks man; Ah'll be sure ta return da favor."

"You –that –wait a minute! Maybe I wanna girlfriend."

"Not 'till high school man. They only gonna break ya heart. In half. Den stomp on it. And make a fire on top o' it and perform a ritual dance 'round it. 'Sides, ya can' do nothin' in middle school. What's da point o' goin' on 'dates' when ya mama drivin' ya everywhere?"

"Jaden, if a girl wants to date me then stay out of it."

"You a horrible boyfriend anyway. Ya dated Robbie all da way through third grade an' neva' even knew."

"Wait, what?"

"We gone so off topic man. Why can't Ah use number five?"

"No, what was this about dating Robin until the third grade?"

"Nothin'. Just a pinkie promise made in grade K. Why can't Ah use number five?"

"This discussion isn't over. You will tell me about Robin. And you can't use number five because…you just can't!"

"Ah think ya bein' bias. Ah'm gonna ask Robbie."

"No don't—!"

"Robbie! Ah nee' ya help!"

"What?"

"Can Ah use number five fo' my essay dat is due tomorrow at sunrise?"

"Why did you put it off for so long? We had an entire week to do it. I finished mine on the _first_ day."

"Ah aint askin' 'bout that! Can Ah use number five or not?"

"…sure. I don't see why not."

"_Robin!_"

"_Mattie!_ It's not like no one's ever seen you two go at in the mornings."

"Exactly!"

"That's because Jaden's not even _awake_! That's the only time it ever happens."

"So?"

"We should do it mo'e often."

"No!"

"Aw."

"You two are such babies. Just let Jaden write his own paper. He's going to do it anyway."

"That's right."

"Then why ask for my opinion at all?"

"'Cause Ah'm bored."

"Whatever. There's my mom; see you guys tomorrow."

"Bye-bye!"

"Don't leave me here with him Robbie!"

"…Ah don't think she heard ya man."

"She did, she just doesn't care…you're still not putting number five."

"Too bad. The world shall know 'bout our cuddling!"

"Don't say it like that!"

"And dey shall know it's consensual!"

"Oh my God, you're making it worse!"

"And dat it's completely platonic."

"That doesn't make it any better!"

"Cuddle me Mattie!"

"No!"

The other pre-teens waiting outside for their after school rides didn't even glance over at the redhead being tackled onto the sidewalk as his friend dramatically initiated a "cuddling session." It wasn't like they hadn't seen something like this happen before. Jaden, Mattie, and Robin were three of the most popular kids in school, if only because of their broad reputation. Seeing Jaden force Mattie to cuddle with him wasn't nearly the strangest thing they'd ever done.

As best friends, it's just what they did.


	24. Talents

**AN: **Yay new chapter :) And a bonus "special"; _two_ in fact :D So enjoy!

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Twenty Three

Talents

* * *

"We should do that man."

Mattie blinked in surprise as he ignored the shoving and shouting of fellow eighth graders as they meandered back to their classrooms. They had just been dismissed from a brief "meeting" that involved the principal very specifically outlining what was allowed in the upcoming talent show. Apparently he hadn't been very amused by the "talent" exhibited by last year's eighth graders. Mattie hadn't gone to it, but Jaden had described in detail how one group of girls had flashed the audience, and then a teenager had almost burned the building down by juggling bowling pins doused in gasoline then set on fire…for the first time in his life. Jaden had said that it had been the first time he'd ever taken a pulled fire alarm seriously.

"Really Jaden?" Robin answered when Mattie became more occupied with not getting shoved to the ground by the raucous crowd. Sometimes it sucked being nothing but "skin and bones" as Ms. Lorraine sometimes joked. "And what exactly would we do? Show everyone how we broke into the school after hours and put enough butter on the floor to get school cancelled because it was an actual safety hazard tow walk on the floor? You know principal Toupee is looking for _any_ reason to get you expelled."

Jaden snickered at the uncreative nickname they had given the principal upon commandeering the hair piece. It had been during a prank that involved a fishing pole, chewing gum, and an escaped pet rat. That had been the only time Jaden had been caught because he had been laughing too hard to run, and Toupee had yet to find where he had stashed the hair piece while waiting in the office for punishment. "Naw, nothin' like that. Ah mean a _real_ talent. Like singin'!"

"No!" both Mattie and Robin shouted, barely being heard over the crown slowly getting louder around them.

Jaden blinked at them behind his latest and stylish pair of shades. "Wha'? Why not? Ah'm an awesome singer."

"Dude," Mattie said with all the seriousness he could muster gleaming in his green eyes. "You're _terrible_ at singing."

"Ah am not!"

"You sound like a cross between a dying cat and a sociopath's bloody chainsaw. People run in _terror_ at the sound of your voice."

"Aw! Well thank you fo' that _lovely_ image Robbie. That didn't hurt at all."

"Good. You're ego needs a good bashing every once in a while to keep it on the same level of 'normal' people."

"Why don't you play your guitar?" Mattie suggested before the two could really get started. They didn't have time for that as they were coming up on their classes. "You can finally show off all those years of teaching that Zach's given you."

Jaden made a skeptical noise in the back of his throat. "Man, you know Ah only play fo' mom, Sammy, or Sebby. It's kinda a special thing, you know?"

"I'm not doing it all," Robin insisted as she stopped outside her and Mattie's classroom. While they normally stayed in the same class until electives, Jaden had been placed in an advanced math class, which sucked in his opinion. He'd rather take normal classes with his friends than have the best grade in an advanced class that came laughably easy to him. "You know those things are totally rigged. Only the class pets or the kids with parents that rule the PTA or whatever win."

"So? Ah could win; teachers love me!"

"Mr. Robinson! Glasses off inside the building," a random teacher (that Jaden didn't even _have)_ ordered as she passed. "Next time I see those on, I'll be seeing you after school every day for a week in detention."

He happily saluted the teacher after taking his glasses off, waiting until she had been lost in the crowd to break formation and put them back on. His friends were giving a "You were saying?" look once he turned back to them, but he shrugged it off. "Okay, _some_ teachers like me. But Otto's always sayin' that if ya don't try, ya already lost."

"Yeah? Well I don't know you 'awe-inspiring' summer teacher," Robin said with an eye roll. Ever since starting middle school, Jaden's mom had allowed him to go spend one month out of the summer at some farm owned by his brother's army pals. Apparently she was letting her son learn "how to be a man" through them since her womanly teachings could only go so far. Jaden tended to talk about them from time to time, but this "Otto" guy came up the most often. "You go and do the talent show, but don't torture us by singing okay? Besides, everyone sang at last year's show. Make the show awesome by being the individual every adult in your school career hates you for being."

Mattie nodded in agreement, and they left a thoughtful Jaden in the hallway as teachers began ordering students back into their respective classrooms. If Jaden was serious about entering the talent show, then Mattie would waste the ten dollars it took to get into it this year just to his act.

**~:0:~**

"I'm a little scared to see what that boy's got planned."

Mattie smiled at the hushed statement made by Lorraine to Sammy as the rest of the auditorium applauded for the girl on stage. Robin, who was sitting slouched beside him, yawned and slumped even further into her seat. "This is such a waste of time. I can't believe I paid two weeks in advance for this crap."

The redhead decided not to respond to that statement and glanced over at Sebastian sitting on his other side. The eight year-old stared straight at the stage without any kind of acknowledgement towards his father, who was snapping pictures of him with their digital camera. It wasn't until the man turned his attention to the stage for the next performance that the boy casually stuck his hand down his shirt to pet the kitten he had snuck into the auditorium.

Ever since his parents had gotten him the pet (some kind of suggestion from his counselor to get him to talk more often or something like that), Sebastian couldn't be separated from it and would pointedly tell people that it was a Tuxedo cat and its name was Tumble. Tumble the Tuxedo kitty, who cuddled by day and brutally murdered crickets (or moving feet under the blanket) by night.

In a roundabout way, the counselor's idea had kinda worked.

"How much longer until Jaden?"

Mattie blinked at the precisely articulated question from the boy. He (along with everyone else) was still getting used to hearing Sebastian talk. Nearly six years of silence from the kid (minus wordless grunts and whatnot), and then one day he completely snaps at Jaden for accidently ripping his old bird plushie. He still didn't speak very often, but the sentence or two that came out of him each day was more than enough to assure Sam and Zach that nothing was wrong with their abnormally silent child.

"I think he's up next," Zach ended up answering. He reached over and patted the spot where Sebastian kept his kitten hidden. Mattie snickered at the way the boy's brown eyes comically widened. Zach deserved a little more credit than they gave him; he wasn't _completely_ oblivious to some things.

"Please Lord," Lorraine prayed under breathe ast he announcer called Jaden out to the stage. "Don't let my boy embarrass himself."

"I don't think that's even possible," Samantha said with a smile as Jaden skipped out onto the stage, the spotlight gleaming off his sunglasses. He waved at the small group when he spotted them, but Zach was the only one who responded with the same amount of enthusiasm.

"And now Jaden Robinson will be performing…" The announcer paused and asked Jaden something after covering the microphone. Jaden enthusiastically nodded, and the announcer shrugged. "He will be performing 'The most coolest dances in the last ten years in under two minutes'."

Robin and Zach burst into fits of laughter as the music started and the boy on stage began with an updated version of the chicken dance, grinning broadly enough for everyone in the dark auditorium to see his cheeky grin. Samantha put a hand to her lips and attempted to keep her giggles under control as Jaden moved on to the next dance, which was just as ridiculous as the first, and Lorraine shook her head completely unsurprised and amused by her son's choice of "talent". Mattie found Sebastian's response to be the best; he'd never seen the younger boy openly gap at something.

"Oh my God!" Zach exclaimed over the laughing crowd as tears began to streak down his cheeks from his own laughter. "Now I understand why he came to me asking to see that video again."

"What video?" Mattie asked. He felt a little left out with being the only one not finding Jaden's ridiculous dances amusing. There was even a rare smile on Sebastian's face now as he hugged Tumble close to prevent the kitten from jumping out of his lap.

"It's a video that got posted on YouTube years ago."

"Who tube?"

"This site that was really popular when you guys were just little kids, but I think it lost its fame after the huge hack of 2014," Zach explained as he steadied his hand holding the camera to capture the final half of Jaden's performance (which now involved him wiggling around the floor in some dance that was popular for like a month when they first entered middle school). "People uploaded their personal videos for other people to watch, and there was this one video of a guy who performed these dances to popular songs of the time. It lasted longer than two minutes, but I guess Jaden had to condense it."

"So Jaden's just copying an old video?"

"Who cares?" Robin butted in as she hysterically clapped her hands for a bowing Jaden. The rest of the auditorium filled with cheers as well as he merrily skipped backstage. "That was seriously the _best_ performance of the night. Woohoo, Jaden!"

Mattie shook his head as the announcer attempted to ask for silence for the next performance and finally smiled. Of course, Jaden would come up with something like this just to amuse the audience. That was his greatest talent after all—making others smile.

* * *

"Special" IV

Halloween

**(Takes place before time skip in chapter 21 [so Jaden would be around 7-8 and Sebastian would be 2-3])**

Jaden furiously scribbled the cardboard box Lorraine had given him. A little more silver here…and done! It was magnificent—an artistic masterpiece! Now all he needed to do was find his helmet.

"Jaden," Lorraine called from the hallway. She poked her head into their bedroom and grinned at the sight of her son's little butt peeking out from under the bed. "Boy, what are you doing?"

"Ah'm lookin' fo' my helmet mommy," Jaden replied while slithering back out. He innocently smiled at her as he crawled around the bed to show off the box he had been coloring on. "Wha'dya think 'bout my costume? Aint it cool?"

"_Very_ cool," Lorraine praised. She took it from him and carefully spun it around to admire the exaggerated drawn on abs and bright yellow circles on either side of them. "So, you're not gonna go trick-or-treating as my lil' monkey this year?"

"That's _baby stuff_ mommy!" Jaden said with an eye roll. He giggled as his mother bent down to gently flick him on the nose for the gesture. "Me an' Mattie are gonna be robots."

"Robots, huh? What kinda robots?"

"The kind dat beat bad guys' butts!" Jaden's eyes brightened in a sudden epiphany, and he dashed out of the bedroom without another word. Lorraine shook her head and carried the homemade costume along with her as she followed. She found Jaden in the living room holding up a simple silver bike helmet he had insisted on her buying not too long ago. At the time she had been confused as to why he would want one he didn't have a bike to ride, but now she was beginning to understand why. "Ah ha! Ah found my head!"

"Well that's good. I'd hate for you to have to walk around without your head on."

The boy laughed as he dropped the helmet on his head and carefully buckled it to stay on. He slightly shifted it to a more comfortably position and ran to the bathroom to look in the mirror and make sure the silver cardboard "horns" he had cut out and stuck in the holes of the helmet were in the correct positions. He ran back out to grab the rest of his costume. "How much longer 'til Sammy an' Sebby get here?"

"They're probably walkin' up to the door right about now," Lorraine assured him as she watched him struggle to get the box over his head. She smiled and walked over to help him, carefully pushing the opening of the box over his helmet. They should have measured the hole with his helmet on since it was bigger than his head. "Now, you know the rules?"

"_Yes,_ mommy."

"Don't give me that tone young man. What are my rules?"

"No talkin' ta strangers; don't leave Sammy's side; no eatin' candy 'til Sammy checks it; and no convincin' Mattie and Robin ta play with da big kids."

"That's right. I better not be hearin' you tepeed another house this year."

"But mommy! It looked really fun an' da big kids were doin' it."

Before Lorraine could retort to that statement, there was a knock on the door, and Jaden abandoned the conversation to quickly waddle over and answer the door. Samantha smiled as the boy animatedly greeted her and Sebastian. "Hey Jaden! Wow, you're costume is _way_ cooler than you were telling me about."

"Thank you Sammy," he graciously replied just like his mother had taught him before immediately zoning in on Sebastian's costume. The younger boy blinked back at him, clutching a jack-o-lantern bucket in one hand and Sammy's hand in the other. "Sebby…you dressed like a baby."

"Jaden," Lorraine chided her son as she moved over to join them at the door. She smiled down at Sebastian, who was dressed in an adorable lion costume with painted black whiskers and nose, and patted the light brown cloth that fanned out around the toddler's head. "You look absolutely adorable Sebastian. Jaden's just jealous because he finally outgrew his monkey suit."

"Nu uh!"

"Oh yes he is. He can't be my lil' monkey now."

Sebastian gave the woman a small smile and shook the lower half of his body to wiggle the tail that was attached to his suit. As expected, Lorraine gave him an exaggerated squeal, and his smile widened. He concluded his act of cuteness by holding up his bucket and tilting his head to the side in expectation. Jaden snickered along with the women's laughter as Lorraine moved away from the door and towards the kitchen. "If there's been one thing that Jaden's managed to teach, it's to use your cute lil' looks to get you anything. Lucky for you, I've got a stash of candy bars that Jaden hasn't been able to find yet."

"What?" Jaden screeched and ran into the kitchen just in time to bump into Lorraine coming back out with two snack-sized candy bars. "Ah wan' some candy too!"

"That's why you going trick-or-treating," Lorraine explained while putting the candy into Sebastian's bucket. The little boy showed his appreciation by reaching up, signaling he wanted to be picked up, and gave the woman a sweet kiss of thanks on the cheek once he was on her level. Lorraine awed as she put him back on the floor. "You're very welcome Mr. Lion. I hope you find more candy on your adventure."

Sebastian gave her one last smile before making his expression as neutral as usual. Job complete. Now on to the next house to build his candy hoard up. It would survive this year because he had the greatest place to keep it hidden from his dad…

Having no knowledge of the child's inner thoughts, the two mothers smiled at each other as they watched Sebastian carefully count his two candy bars. Jaden grabbed a similar jack-o-lantern bucket that had been sitting by the door and squeezed out of the opening to take Sammy's other hand. "Let's go! Ah wanna get dere early an' get the good stuff."

"You sure you don't want to go with us this year?" Sammy asked, ignoring Jaden's insistent tugs on her arm. "I've already had to lock Zach in our bedroom after last year's incident. It'd be a shame to lose you too."

"Don't worry 'bout me girl," Lorraine said in a joking manner while waving off the other woman's concerns. "I'm getting too old to be running up and down a neighborhood chasing kids hyped up on sugar."

"You sure mommy?" Jaden asked, stopping his tugging to sadly look up at his mom. He had known that she would be staying behind this year, but he still felt back leaving her home all alone. "You wan' me ta bring ya back some o' dat caramel candy you like?"

Lorraine reached down to affectionately pat her son on the cheek and smiled. "Don't worry about me. You just go have fun, okay?"

Jaden enthusiastically nodded, and the trio said their goodbyes (or waved in Sebastian's case) and headed down the hallway with an eager Jaden in the lead, pulling the two "slowpokes" along. Lorraine watched them vanish down the staircase and sighed. She couldn't _quite_ place it, but the "costume" Jaden had insisted on making on his own this year somehow looked vaguely familiar…

_"Oh well,"_ she thought as she retreated back into the apartment. _"Must be from some cartoon he's been watching. Time for me to pull down the rest of that candy and find a good, sappy romance to watch while I've got the TV to myself."_

* * *

"Special" V

Father's Day

**(Sebastian is about five in this one)**

"Mommies are very special.

They give you hugs when you're afraid.

They make the ouchies go away.

They tuck you in at night,

And make sure to turn on the nightlight.

But daddies are cool dudes too.

They let you eat dessert first.

They let you sleep in until noon.

They make you laugh with silly faces,

And—Hold on. I can't stop laughing."

Sebastian frowned as his father put down the homemade card and fought off the giggle fit he had just been reduced to. He had known that letting Jaden help with his Father's Day gift had been a bad idea. All he had wanted was to know was how to spell "dad", and Jaden had taken off and practically wrote the card for him. It wasn't funny to have his serious gift be turned into a laughing matter.

Zach's laughter came to an abrupt halt as the boy snatched the folded blue construction paper from his hand and turned to walk away. The man quickly grabbed Sebastian and dragged him back to be picked up and sat on his lap. "Where you going with my gift little man? I've gotta finish reading it."

Sebastian furiously shook his head. This was supposed to be serious—not another one of Jaden's jokes! It was the first year that the raven haired child had wanted to give his dad his own special gift for Father's Day instead of the plastic cards his mom bought from the store. Jaden had to go and ruin it all.

"Hey," Zach tentatively said as he saw the upset expression that Sebastian fought—and lost—to keep from showing. He gave his adopted child a big squeeze. "I love my gift little man. I just think the way Jaden wrote it out is a little funny. You're pictures are the best though."

The preschooler looked down at the images he had drawn on the opposite page of the attempted poem. Some of them were just indecipherable scribbles that only Sebastian could name, but there were a few that resembled the words of the poem and probably served as the inspiration. One was of his dad (depicted as a simple stick figure) making the funny faces that Sebastian found _really _funny; another showed them both secretly eating a bowl of ice cream while mom fixed supper; and the last one was just an afterthought he had drawn after remembering the time when his dad had joined him in chasing the birds in the park to bring back home, which served as the inspiration to Jaden's last line: "And don't let the birds win the races."

In Jaden's defense, that one line had probably been what took him so long to return the card. He had tried to help—he really had.

Zach squeezed him even more and leaned back onto the couch he had been sitting on, proudly holding the card up. "I like it. It's the best Father's Day gift I've ever gotten. Thanks little man."

Sebastian nodded and shifted around to wrap his arms around the man's neck and firmly squeezed back. Zach smiled as he refused to let the boy go even though it was obvious that Sebastian wasn't going to move anytime soon to begin with. "I love you too little man…do you think your mom will notice a few cupcakes missing before supper?"

The man's smile widened as he heard Sebastian giggle into his shoulder. It wasn't easy being a dad, but Zach was finding it extremely hard to regret the responsibility he had accepted five years ago.

* * *

**AN: **I told _PyrothTenka _I'd make the first "special", like, _ages_ ago but I keep forgetting it for some reason. So I put a bunch of sticky notes all over my desk to remind me to write it. For once, the sticky notes worked! I just had to cover every visible surface XP And I almost decided not to do one for Father's Day because Jaden doesn't have a dad to celebrate it with, but then I thought "Well, _Sebastian's_ got a dad!" And then something adorable came from it X3

The YouTube video that inspired the chapter is called "Decade of Dance" if your curious to watch it :)


	25. Hills and Valleys

**AN:** It's been a while since the Autobots have been around, so just in case you've forgotten the fake names they gave to Jaden, Raphael = Ratchet ;)

**Warnings**: Crude and potentially offensive language

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Twenty Four

Hills and Valleys

* * *

Jaden had no idea how it had come to this. How it had come to him sitting in the office with a secretary looking at him like he was nothing but another troublemaker, which in her defense he was. But he was the "Ha Ha!" troublemaker—the kind that usually made even the respected authority figures in his life laugh and forget he was supposed to be in trouble (when he was lucky that is). Not the kind that sat in the school's office with a busted lip and bruised cheek, frequently glaring at the teen that sat on the other side of the room and looked even worse than him.

"_Man, she's gonna be so disappointed when she gets outta there,"_ Jaden thought, switching his glared from the kid to look with worry at the door to the principal's office where his mom and the other mothers were being briefed of the situation. He nervously twitched in his seat and clutched the sunglasses that had been damaged in the fight, their lenses now cracked. The mere _thought _of Lorraine stepping out of that office and looking at him with eyes filled with disappointment made him feel nauseated. It wouldn't matter that he felt he had just cause for punching the kid in the nose—he had started the fight.

He still had no idea how all of this had started. The first time he had met the kid (Jaden knew his name, but he didn't deserve to be addressed in such a personal way), Robin had brought him to the lunch table to join their usual trio. The guy was new to the school system and hadn't had a very lucky time with making friends so far, so Robin had instantly taken him under her wing like she had done with her old friends back in daycare.

Mattie hadn't been bothered by the new addition, but Jaden had taken one look at the newcomer and had a funny feeling wash over him. It was one that he had only felt once, a long time ago in a fuzzy memory of a short-lived bully from daycare. He'd never disliked anyone on first sight, and it had left him slightly unsettled.

He had tried his hardest to push the feeling away, be as open-minded as he usually was if only not to upset Robin, but the feeling just would not go away. The guy was nice; he enjoyed the pranks they pulled and stayed within the realms of the rules the trio had developed over the years to avoid accidental injuries and serious mental scarring (his original Kindergarten teacher still hadn't been released from that mental hospital she had been checked into…); he got along with Jaden, Robin, and Mattie, at least on the surface. Jaden had simply watched him with the eyes of a hawk, searching for the reason behind the unreasonable dislike he had developed.

And then Mattie had started to pull away.

Jaden had noticed it immediately even if Robin had brushed it off, saying that Mattie had always acted more mature than they did so of course the joy of pranking would wear off of him first. First it was lack of participation with pranks; then he began to hideaway in the library during lunch. The final straw for Jaden had been when his best friend had begun to make up bogus excuses for not hanging out with him and Robin (plus the—pardon his language—_a-hole_ sitting in the office with him) after school.

Of course, Mattie wasn't very forthcoming with his reasons for the sudden change in attitude. The redhead would pointedly avoid Jaden's direct questions and any subtlety he attempted sent him in circles until a new topic was brought up or Mattie decided to go spend time with someone else like Sebastian, whom Jaden had been given the responsibility of watching in the afternoons now that he was in high school. This highly concerned Jaden because there had never been a time that they had kept such dire secretes from each other.

_Ever._

So Jaden had decided to do a little bit of investigating work to figure out what was happening to his friend. Contrary to belief, he didn't start his snooping with the jerk he'd just gifted with a bloody nose. He called Mattie's mom first to see if anything was going on in the home-end of the situation. Mattie's mom had assured him that nothing but the regular had been going on at home but had also expressed a small amount of relief that she wasn't the only concerned for Mattie's sudden withdrawal.

With that proving to be a dead end, Jaden had moved on to other possibilities, which proved to be a fairly short list. Mattie wasn't the social butterfly that him and Robin were and preferred to stay within what he considered his comfort zone. Outside of his home and two friends that included: Sebastian and his parents; Lorraine; and a little group of "nerds" that Mattie had discovered in the seventh grade and shared his fascination of comics with.

Sebastian, Sammy, Zach, and his mom were just four more dead ends (not that he had expected anything else), and the pseudo-club that met every other Tuesday in one of the classrooms after school hadn't even seen Mattie for almost four months when the withdrawing had begun.

Jaden had absolutely no idea where to look after that. By then Mattie wasn't even hiding the fact that he avoided his friends during school hours and no amount of convincing or pouting could get him to join them in some mundane afterschool activity when the new kid was involved. It was obvious that he was miserable about it, but for the life of him, Jaden just could not figure out why his friend was subjecting himself to the isolation.

And then—for some God awful reason that Jaden still couldn't figure out _why_—everyone in their grade had started referring to bloody nose over there as his _new best friend. _No! It didn't work that way. For one, if anything were to happen to Mattie there wouldn't be a "new best friend". Mattie would always retain that title, just like Bobby and his friends would always retain their titles as superheroes no matter how old he got. Secondly, if anything ever _did_ happen to Mattie (which Jaden refused to let happen), then Robin still came before the new guy as did Sebastian, and Sammy, and Zach, and the kid that sits behind him in geometry.

Needless to say, Jaden didn't like the new guy enough to even consider him as a friend no matter how hard he tried.

It was then, and _only_ then, that Jaden started suspecting the new guy as being the reason for Mattie's newfound distance. It had been approximately five months after their first introductions and the feeling of dislike had yet to change. If anything it had gotten even more intense without his noticing. He didn't like the way the guy had automatically taken Mattie's seat at the lunch table the first day his friend had camped out in the library, or how he subtlety maneuvered Robin's attention from the redhead when he still hung out with them after school.

And it wasn't just his actions regarding Mattie that made Jaden frown. It was also how he looked down at Sebastian the very rare times when his little adoptive brother had to ride the bus home with them, or how he scoffed at Zach's energetic behavior even though it was often the same way Jaden acted. He was always impeccably polite when he met Jaden's mom but was as rude as possible to Sammy.

Jaden hadn't even figured out what those people had in common to deserve the guy's hate until just roughly an hour ago. And then he had socked the guy in the nose, which put him in here.

Huh, so maybe he _did_ know he had gotten to point in time.

The kid finally had the guts to look into Jaden's fierce blue eyes before looking away again but making a point to keep his head high. Jaden just continued to glare. He didn't care how tough the little fragger pretended to act; he wasn't one to back down even after the fight. And he was going to get in trouble—_lots_ of trouble once his mom came back out—but he couldn't bring himself to regret the few punches he had gotten in while ducking and dodging the guy's sloppy hits. He was actually quite surprised at how natural his actions had felt.

"God, what's your fuckin' problem?" the kid finally snapped, breaking the silence the office had been in since the arrival of the parents. "Ah didn't do shit ta your pussy little cracker."

The use of vulgarity and name-calling simply painted the picture of the significantly ignorant mind. Jaden had learned that from Raphael one summer, but had yet been able to apply that to anyone he personally knew. He definitely didn't like it either.

"You didn't do anythin' to 'im?" Jaden finally repeated after a tense moment that even caught the secretary's attention. "Where do you come in decidin' that my _best friend _doesn't deserve dat title? What makes _you_ so special ta think dat _you _even deserve dat title? To spread vicious rumors 'bout my friend amongst your 'crowd o' people' and intimidate him ta da point that he's afraid ta even _tell me_ what's wrong? To lie to me and my other friend_—to our faces—_while you go around doin' it and actin' like everything's fine? 'Cause Mattie's _white_ an' we're both _black_?

"Well, let me tell you somethin'," Jaden nearly snarled as he sat on the edge of his seat to get closer to the other boy without disobeying the order that kept him in his seat. He'd never felt so, so, _angry_ in his entire life, but then again, this was the first time anyone had ever treated one of his friends this way. The fact that it was Mattie, the freckled, unobtrusive redhead that had become his first friend in a simple little sandbox, just seemed to make his blood boil even more.

"We aint friends—we aint never gonna _be_ friends. _Ah_ don' choose my friends based off o' da tone o' their skin or their heritage. To put it frankly, Ah don't choose them based on something that they can't control. Mattie's been my best friend since we were practically in diapers. We've got a bond dat others 'ave come out an' admitted ta bein' _jealous_ for, so Ah take personal offense ta da crap you spewed at him back there in da lunchroom. And Ah take offense fo' all da other people Ah know that would be applied to your ignorant hate.

"So you might not have 'done shit ta him', like you so eloquently put, in a physical sense o' things, but you made him scared ta 'ave anythin' ta do with the few friends he's got. And you made it so that others would treat 'im da same way behind our backs. All 'cause he's _white_ an' you're not."

Jaden scoffed and finally turned away from the speechless boy, gripping his sunglasses in an uncontrollable anger he'd never felt before. "Ah don' get people like you—white, black, rainbow, whatever. To ignorantly hate someone like that…it makes me happy ta 'ave had a mama that taught me not ta judge a person from their outward appearance. To be open-minded ta everyone. It physically sickens me ta see someone singled out fo' somethin' as mundane and _stupid_ as skin color, especially when it obviously aint a problem with their real friends ta begin with."

Just as Jaden had anticipated, the kid had nothing to say back at him. What could he say? Everything Jaden had just stated was the truth: the guy had come along and singled Mattie out because of his skin color and made it so that the redhead felt uncomfortable to be with his friends. There were no physical blows to make Mattie cower, just malicious words and insinuations. It was hard for Jaden to believe that his best friend could be swayed with lies like that—to believe that _anyone_ would have the nerve to show up out of the blue and even bother someone like that to begin with—but it opened his eyes to another truth that Raphael had attempted to teach him.

Words could be made into very powerful weapons when handled with certain care.

A door in the office creaked open, and Jaden immediately snapped his attention to the principal's office. A wave of relief washed over him when he found the door still tightly shut (though that didn't last as he worried over what exactly was being talked about in there…), and he glanced around to figure out which door had been opened. He slouched in relief at the sight of Mattie standing in the entrance to the office.

Mattie had been at ground zero of the fight, but hadn't participated in it at all. He had just stood on the sidelines with wide, incredulous eyes as Jaden had socked the jerk in the nose mid-insult. Once the surprise had worn off, Mattie had attempted to break the fight up or at least drag Jaden to a safe distance before the lunch monitors could respond to the sudden disturbance. He had ended up being shoved into one of the tables and banged his head on the edge on it, which was why the nurse had wanted him to stay in her office and monitor him. He must have put his well-trained sneaking abilities to use to escape the grasp of that overbearing old woman!

After standing in the doorway long enough to make the situation a tad awkward, Jaden sighed and leaned over to grab the edge of Mattie's sleeve and drag him over to the lonesome chair beside him. Miss Secretary could just deal with Jaden not being isolated anymore. "You doin' okay?"

Mattie thoughtfully blinked and shifted the melting icepack he held to the side of his head that had hit the table. "Sure." He spotted the look Jaden was giving him and narrowed his eyes. "No."

"Aw…please?"

"No."

"Pretty, pretty, _pretty_ please?"

"_No_."

"…with a cherry on top?"

"No, you can't have my icepack ."

"Then can I—"

"Or poke my head."

"Then—"

"_Or _have the mint in my left pocket."

"…forget you then man. Ah defended you an' ya gonna put a brotha' down like that?"

"You still can't have my mint."

They stared at each for a few tense second before twin grins spread over their faces. Jaden chuckled and flung a comradely arm across Mattie's shoulder while the redhead just rolled his eyes. Everything was back to normal again. Mattie's confidence in their friendship was now restored; Robin had all but disowned the new kid if the smoldering glare she had given him as they were escorted out of the cafeteria said anything; the secretary was now looking at him with a small amount of respect; and the jerk over there had come out of the fight way more banged up then he did.

Maybe today hadn't been so bad after all.

The door to the principal's office opened and the man took a step out to give the three teenagers a very critical look. "Step into my office boys."

And then Jaden caught a glance of the hard stare Lorraine gave him from behind the principal.

…crap.

**~:0:~**

Jaden had a new goal in life: to be the first boy to completely dissolve into a puddle of shame. And he was going to do it right here, on this very couch that he called his bed after ten every night. But it wasn't ten yet, so it was still a couch. A couch that would soon hold a puddle of shame that used to be a boy. Maybe he should write his will before dissolving. That way his stereo, song memory cards, and guitar would be placed into the care of a person he knew would take excellent care of them.

…naw! That took too much energy. He had to use that energy to dissolve.

He heard a the doorknob behind him jiggle with the sound of someone inserted a key, and the sounds of the door opening and closing followed soon after that, just as he suspected they would. There was a gentle thud as something was placed on the floor, and the soft steps of clothed feet made their way to where he lay on the couch, one arm and leg dramatically hanging off the side while his face was shoved into a small mound of pillows. The footsteps stopped right beside his head, and he waited for the newcomer to be the first to speak.

"…s'up?"

"Ah'm pretty sure ya already know," Jaden replied, his words muffled by the pillow he kept his face in.

A sudden weight was applied to his back, and he grunted at the claws that kneaded his back before the medium sized weight made itself comfortable in the dip of his back. Another, smaller weight soon followed and annoyingly cuddled into the crook of his neck, a little nose sticking into his ear and loudly purring. He hated those cats sometimes…

"Aunt Lori said you're supposed to do anything I tell you during your three day suspension."

"Yeah, she figured that'd be a good 'nough punishment fo' me."

"…mom says Tumble and Turmoil need a flea bath."

A wicked little grin spread across Sebastian's face as Jaden released a muffled scream into the pillow, leaving the two cats on his back completely undisturbed. He'd make his Auntie Lori proud by making sure that Jaden never started a fight again.

Just wait until he told Jaden about the bird his parents were getting him this afternoon.

* * *

**AN:** I don't feel the overwhelming need to say much at this point. Racism in general seems to be a big topic nowadays, but I think people lose sight of the fact that it's just not one group of people it applies to. I think that's it.

…also I managed to update before midnight…

…but that's not a big deal at all ;)


	26. Summer of Sophomore Year

**AN:** Hi! Sorry about not updating Saturday. I've come to realize that there was a reason why I separated the updating days for my stories. This chapter turned out a little longer than I had expected, so hopefully it makes up for the late update :)

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Twenty Five

Summer of Sophomore Year

* * *

Jaden had taken this same trip for the past three years, and each year he found out something new about airplanes. For one, it wasn't a good idea to annoy the attendants that didn't have a sense of humor; they had the power to dictate whether or not you got your free pack of peanuts. Another tip was to not be too fascinated by a toilet in the air. It could only take so many uses before it apparently broke and left a plane full of agitated passengers who sought revenge on the person who did it by hour four of the trip. He was just lucky no one had seen him come out of the broken toilet.

This year—his fourth year of the trip, but the first he had ever been allowed to take on his own—he learned that it wasn't a good idea to seat hop in the seats that weren't occupied. Apparently, he would bring on the Apocalypse by sitting in an empty seat that was exactly like his. Or so it seemed by the way the attendant had thrown a hissy fit when she found him sitting in an empty seat on the row closest to the door.

He made a point to brightly smile at that attendant as he exited the plane with the other passengers. Maybe she wouldn't be so crotchety if more people smiled at her.

Jaden embraced the loud noise of the airport and hurried to the luggage pick up, easily bypassing individuals who were obviously lost in the big airport. He would have stopped to help, but had also learned that some people apparently got offended when someone chose to help them. Jaden had approached a few to point out the way to go and had been forced to listen to the person angrily rant at him before telling that same person to get out more and walking away. He seriously didn't understand what made people act that way.

Lucky for him, he found his bags faster than he had the years before and ran through the airport to where he usually met his brother. Some people gave him glares as he whizzed past, but he didn't care. He didn't bump into any of them; his suitcase didn't roll over their toes; and he politely stopped to allow an older woman to step onto the escalator before him.

His mama had raised him to be a proper gentleman.

Jaden grinned as he hopped off the escalator and immediately spotted Bobby and one of the twins. He couldn't tell which one it was since they looked so similar, but she absolutely beamed when she saw him through the crowd and energetically waved to get his attention. The youngest three in the Epps household had come to absolutely _adore_ their uncle, an adoration that had simply grown with his month long visits during the summer.

The teen's smile dropped when he noticed the stiff stance and neutral expression his brother had. Great, Lorraine must've told her older son about the trouble he had gotten into two months ago. Bobby was probably going to give him hell for that.

"Hey Uncle Jaden," his niece loudly greeted when he came close enough. He grinned as he noticed the lime green clip that had been messily clipped into the girl's hair. Shaniqua had always been a little less perfectly put together than Mozambiqua. "It's about _time_ you got here!"

"Well _saw-ree._ Ah couldn't make the plane go faster," Jaden teased, popping his rolling suitcase upright to sit while he reached out to drag the girl into a tight embrace. She giggled and returned the gesture with equal enthusiasm. "The pilot wouldn't le' me fly no matta' how hard Ah tried ta convince 'im."

Another giggle escaped her as she let him go and looked up at her dad. Jaden decided he didn't have any choice but to do the same and cursed at how short he was. He better have a ridiculous growth spurt during his stay or he would be sorely disappointed at having to go back to school shorter than Mattie. That jerk of a ginger was almost five inches taller than him now! "Hey Bobby…"

"You got suspended for three days."

Curse phones and other long distance communication devices. "Yeah but-"

"Because you started a fight."

"Bobby-"

"You know mama wanted me to give you more chores as a form of punishment."

"Man! Wasn't havin' to wash two cats for three freakin' days punishment enough? She wants to run me into the _ground_ 'cause o' one incident. _One. _ Ah aint gotten inta trouble since then!"

Bobby's frown turned into a smirk at the honest frustration coming from his baby brother, and he reached out to grab him by the shoulders. "Is that _regret _I'm seein' from you?"

"Heck no! That jerk had it comin' to 'im."

The older man chuckled and dragged the teen into a manly one-armed hug, finding it even more amusing that the top of Jaden's head barely reached the bottom on his chin. "Now don't you _dare_ repeat this to mama, but I'm proud of you for not just lyin' down and taking that crap. Mama told me your side of the story too, and while she wasn't happy you solved the problem by breaking the kid's nose, I think she was proud of you for sticking up for your friend too."

"That's a load o' bull—the bastard's nose turned out to not be broken at all."

Bobby loudly guffawed and grabbed Jaden's biggest bag. His daughter rolled her eyes at him and attached herself to Jaden's arm once he had adjusted the guitar bag on his back. The teenager took the new weight in stride and almost dragged the girl with him as he followed his brother out the airport. "_Sooo_."

"Wha'chu got up your sleeve dis summer Shanni?" Jaden asked with heavy suspicion.

Shaniqua just giggled once more and cuddled up closer. Jaden raised an eyebrow but chose not to comment as they breached the world outside of the airport. He all but forgot about his younger niece's quirky behavior as he grinned at the sight of Shiloh's sleek silver car. That meant the younger soldier would be around for this summer!

This summer was gonna be _sa-weet!_

**~:0:~**

Jaden didn't begin to understand his giggling niece until the next day when they drove out to the Lennox farm. Shaniqua and her twin, Mozambiqua (which he had _long_ since shortened to just Mozzy, much to Mrs. Monique's dismay), had joined forces upon their arrival at the Epps household to giggle at him and whisper to themselves while giggling more. Shareeka had told him to ignore the "incredibly immature and deluded tweens" before dragging him into the depths of her bedroom.

He didn't remember much after that except collapsing on her bed and almost instantly falling victim to sleep. Jet lag was such a drag sometimes.

So yeah, now he was stuck between two giggling girls in the backseat of Shiloh's car with Shareeka sitting in the front seat with her dad and not giving him any pity despite the pitiful, kicked puppy looks he gave her every time she glanced over her shoulder. She had won their Rock, Paper, Scissors match fair and square and refused to feel bad about that.

God dang-it.

"Uncle Jay-den," Mozzy sang beside him, cutely placing her head on his shoulder. It must have been uncomfortable, seeing as he was actually shorter than both girls…now he was just depressed. Where was his magical growth spurt? "You got a _girlfriend_ back home yet?"

"What?"

"Stop it!" Shareeka snapped, twisting around in her seat to glare at her younger sisters. "I told you two not to bring up your stupid delusions."

"What?"

"_Dad!_" the twins complained together, completely in sync with one another.

"Shareeka, don't call your sisters' delusions stupid."

"Dad!"

"What is going on?" Jaden said above the girls' voices as they began to argue with each other. Bobby caught his eyes in the rearview mirror and subtly shook his head. _"Girls being girls," _was the silent message, and Jaden shrugged. He had plenty of experience with that from Robin and Sammy.

The girls kept up a constant flow of conversation until they finally reached the Lennox farm. As soon as the car came to a complete stop, Jaden was the first one out of the car. He was even halfway up the porch before Shareeka began yelling after him for climbing on top of her to get to the door. But such was the life of those who won simple games of chance.

His snickers were abruptly cut off by an angry teenage girl jumping on his back and dragging him away from the door. "Jaden! You kicked me in the face!"

"Ah! No! Help! Abuse, abuse!" Jaden loudly protested as he was manhandled into a stranglehold. He used all of the strength available to him to keep from being pushed onto the ground. "Bobby, Bobby! Help man!"

"Heck no!" he heard his brother refuse; he also heard the heavy thuds of his brother's boots against the wooden porch, signaling his brother was continuing on his merry way. "You got yourself into that mess."

"Traitor! Ow! Let up a lil' 'Reeka. That actually hurt."

Shareeka finally released him after successfully wrestling him to the ground. She straightened back and gloatingly placed her hands on her hips, smirking down at the teen dramatically sprawled out on the ground. "That's another victory under my belt. Man, Uncle Jaden. You're really weak! After daddy tellin' us all about you beating down that kid back home, I was expecting something a little more than last year."

Jaden groaned and lifted a hand to rub his neck but stayed on the ground. "Man, is there anyone 'round here that _hasn't_ heard 'bout that dumb fight?"

"You got into a fight?"

Jaden practically bounced off of the ground, inspiring the weird giggles his younger nieces had been giving him since his arrival. The honey blonde that had joined them in the front yard released a cheerful laugh at his quick response and naturally took her spot beside Shareeka. It was too bad he only got one month out of the year to spend time with Annabelle. She was almost like Robin in the aspect of her mischievous ways, but where Robin mostly came off as bossy and "I-Can-Do-Better-Than-You", Bells was more mellow and angelic.

But that didn't make her a saint. Over the course of their friendship, Jaden had come to learn that she liked to use her angelic looks and position of Daddy's Little Girl to get her way in numerous situations, mostly when it involved Raphael and Will.

Right now, the glint in her bright green eyes was telling him that she had something up her sleeve.

"Well? Come on!" Annabelle said insistently, snapping Jaden out of his thoughts. "Are you going to share details? Battle scars?"

Jaden vehemently shook his head. "Ah don' see why everyone's actin' like it's such a big deal! It was one fight involvin' one guy."

"But it involved _you_. Mr. "Nice Guy" Jaden. Since when has anyone been able to anger you enough to punch them? I mean, you can put up with the stuff the _Wreckers_ say to you."

Ah, the Wreckers. Jaden had a few fond memories of those guys. Toby, Ross, and Leland—all of whom he could vaguely remember as being here during his very first visit with his mom—tended to still pop in around here from time to time. But alas, they were continuously stationed at bases across the country, and he didn't get to see them as much as he used to. But those had been fun times—fun times indeed. He'd heard that they'd had some more soldiers join their little exclusive trio over the past few years.

"Those guys' jokes were harmless," Jaden defended with a shrug. Indeed they had been; in fact, Jaden had found their potentially vulgar and racist jokes to be very amusing. It was the context in which they had used them in that made it obvious it was just for laughs. "It had nothin' on wha' that punk was doin'."

"Mmhm," Annabelle hummed, clearly unconvinced by his words. "Well whatever it was you can definitely expect for it to be brought up again several times before you leave. You should've seen the little uproar it inspired when Mr. Bobby told everyone. They were all acting like hell had frozen over."

"Hey Annie," Shareeka piped up, interrupting anything Jaden was about to say. "Did you get that _you know what_ in the mail yet?"

"Oh, I'm so happy you brought that up Sharie! I'd totally forgotten about that; come on, it's in my room." Annabelle popped her hand up to stop Jaden, who had automatically moved to follow the girls. "Sorry Jaden, but you can't come."

"What? Why?"

"It's a girl thing. Besides, my dad's got some cleaning he needs done in the barn out back. I'm sure he's coming for you any minute."

Jaden pouted as the girls hurried into the house without another word. That wasn't fair! Now he was curious about what it was, and curiosity for him was like a deadly disease. It slowly consumed his sanity until it was sated. He wanted to know what was so dang girly that even he couldn't see it!

He was suddenly reminded of his younger nieces' presences when twin weights simultaneous attached to his arms and nearly pulled him down. The twins angelically grinned up at him, and he frowned. "You two got somethin' ta say?"

"Don't worry Uncle Jaden!"

"Annabelle still likes you."

"She has to."

"You two are our real life OTP!"

Jaden could only stare as the twins galloped into the house, leaving him outside and completely alone. After an intense moment of stillness, he brought both hands up to wearily rub his face. "What the hell is an 'OTP', and why do Ah gotta bad feelin' it's got somethin' ta do with their weird obsessions?"

**~:0:~**

Come to find out, "OTP" was an acronym for "One True Pairing". As in the twins had this weird idea that he and _Annabelle_ were romantically involved. Which wasn't true and probably never would be true. Because Jaden had come to learn that he _never_ wanted to be the unfortunate guy unwittingly caught on the wrong end of Lennox's rifle. It had been all cute when he was little, but now Will was giving him "That Look". Annabelle was definitely a daddy's girl.

But what was worst was that it was _Shiloh_ who had been the one to tell him what it meant.

The young soldier had nearly popped out of nowhere after Lennox had put Jaden to work in the barn, just as Annabelle had told him he would. Shiloh was one of the few that _always_ showed up during the summer. It helped that he was stationed somewhere around here and normally bunked down at the Lennox household during the weekends. Jaden and the young soldier had come to develop a fairly stable friendship over the short time they had together, often finding many subjects to agree on. It also helped that Shiloh was just as active in pranking as he was, albeit a little more likely to be caught in the act. But sometimes, that's where the most enjoyment came from.

Right now the older man sat up on the loft, looking down at Jaden moving around boxes according to what Lennox had ordered him and tidying up in general. In truth, Jaden had always seen the old barn as more of a garage than anything else. It was where the soldiers parked there fancy little cars and where Lennox family stored unwanted junk. It was always his first job of the summer to clean it up a little before getting down to other business, like helping with the few horses the family still owned for business reasons or other stuff around the Lennox or Epps households.

He was just a very helpful person around here for the summer, and he knew that Will and Bobby sometimes took advantage of that. How? Well, they had found it very amusing during his second summer here when he got stuck on the roof of the house while cleaning out some gutters. And then Mrs. Sarah had come home with Annabelle and drilled Will a good one when she found out he had divvied out his own job to a thirteen year old. His only saving grace had been that he and Epps had been watching the younger kids to make they didn't get into trouble…which would have worked if Dino hadn't been visiting that summer.

So yeah, he knew he was taken advantage of but didn't mind all that much. He would rather be out and about doing something rather than stuck in front of a computer like Fred.

"At least those little psychotic twins don't pair you up with another dude," Shiloh was saying as he watched Jaden stack another box in the corner. Knowing that the box moving would lead to more room in the barn/garage made him a very happy camper. "And not just any dude, but _Raphael_. Or Dino. Or _Otto._ I swear man, sometimes you've got some whacked up family living here."

"It's only Fred an' the twins," Jaden defended with a grunt as he slid another box into the corner. He swore some of these boxes only had bricks in them. "'Reeka and Lee-lee are as sane as anybody else. They get it from my side o' da family."

"Yeah right. That's where the crazy comes from." Shiloh laughed at the offended expression he got from the boy and flicked pieces or stray straw to drift down onto his shaved head. "Don't be like that! I'm just saying your mom's sometimes not exactly the poster child for sanity. She likes to slap her oldest kid and call it love."

"You wouldn't understand," Jaden insisted, refusing to look up at the soldier as he went for the last boxes. "It's a family thing."

"Oh, I can _definitely_ see that." Shiloh's laughing morphed into a yelp as a rock was tossed up into the loft beside him.

Jaden huffed when the laughing started back up as soon as the danger had been averted and his poor aim provided another form of amusement for the adult. Time to play on Shiloh's short attention span and change the subject. "Anybody else other dan your ugly mug gonna get time ta visit?"

Shiloh was effectively distracted as he poked his head back out to look down at the teenager. "Course. Prime always takes the time to visit when you're around. I've got no clue why, but he does. And 'Bee—ently, Bently's being transferred over here, so he might come to visit. You've never met Bently before."

Jaden shook his head and didn't comment on the awkward name transition. Shiloh did that sometimes, calling Raphael "Ratch" or Otto "Prime" or dragging someone's name out like he had to pause and quickly change his thought process. He never did get why though, and he never got a chance to ask because people would glare at the young soldier until he shut up. But there was no one around at the moment…"Hey, is 'Prime' lik'a military rank or somethin'?"

"What? Why? Where'd you hear that?"

"Ya just said it man."

"What?"

"Ya called Otto 'Prime'. You do it all the time."

"…I don't know what you're talking about?"

Jaden groaned at Shiloh's poor attempt to hide his mistake. "Man, it can't be _that_ big o' a secret. It's just some title or nickname or whatever. Shiloh seemed to contemplate that statement, a pensive look appearing on his face that involved a very ludicrous pouting of the lips. "Dude, don't hurt ya'self. Ah know thinkin' aint ya strong suit."

"Hey! I think all the time…just maybe not as much as others." He grinned at the snort he got from the teenager before leaning his elbows on his knees and dangling his legs over the edge of the loft. "But yeah. Prime's a military title of sorts. It's…just not used very often. Not a lot of men earn it."

"Women can't earn the rank?"

"…yeah? But I think there was only one who ever did. I'm not sure; my brother's more of a history buff than I am but not by much."

Jaden suddenly stopped and turned to fully address Shiloh. "You've gotta brother? Why didn't ya ever tell me?"

Shiloh's normally friendly and open expression suddenly dimmed, his bright blue eyes becoming dull and his jaw visibly clenching. He looked away from Jaden and refused to acknowledge the hesitant question of if he was okay. "I don't want to talk about it."

"'Kay man," Jaden agreed after a tense pause. "That's cool. We aint gotta talk 'bout it."

But the easygoing atmosphere from earlier had been effectively crushed, and Jaden felt the unpleasant pressure of it as he went back to moving boxes, thankful that he was almost done and could escape the barn. He wandered what could make such a dramatic change in the man's persona. Was he on bad terms with his brother? Maybe they'd gotten into a huge fight and hadn't made up yet. Or…was his brother dead?

Now he felt terrible for trying to pursue the topic.

Jaden was on his last box when one of the doors to the barn swung open. He paused for a moment before rushing over to help the woman carrying the two boxes that nearly obstructed her view. "Hey Mrs. Sarah! Lemme help ya out."

He didn't expect her to release a shrill yelp and drop what she had been carrying. He cringed at the sound of glass breaking and nervously rubbed the back of his head. Well…that had been unexpected.

The older woman took a few deep breathes and placed a hand over her breast where her heart must have been rapidly beating from the surprise. "Jaden? What on _earth_ are you doing here so early? I thought Monique said you wouldn't be arriving for another week!"

"Eh, well, my mom thought it'd be better fo' me ta come on since my friends were all takin' their family vacations already. And Ah mighta begged her 'nough ta push her over the edge. Either way Ah'm here!"

Sarah didn't appear to find it amusing when he threw his arms out wide and smiled his biggest smile yet. He stood there for a moment before slowly drooping again. "What? You're not happy ta see me Mrs. Sarah? Ah thought Ah was your favorite!"

The glare she had developed instantly vanished, and she looked fairly remorseful for it having appeared. "I'm sorry Jaden. I am happy to see you; I always am! It wasn't you I was mad at… could you be a dear and clean this mess up for me? I need to have a little…chat with my husband right quick."

Jaden nodded and watched the woman turn an about-face and leave the barn. He glanced up at Shiloh, who was practically hanging upside down to see what was going on below him, but the man merely shrugged in equal confusion. Jaden hurried out of the barn to watch the woman stomp up to the back of the house where Will and Bobby were lounging on the deck chairs watching the twins and the youngest Lennox children play in the above ground pool.

Will had obviously missed his wife coming out of the house because once he spotted her heading towards him, he jumped out of his chair like it had suddenly caught fire. Jaden saw his mouth moving but at this distance couldn't decipher what was being said, though it was obvious it was meant to calm the woman steadily stomping closer and closer. Sarah, however, was still close enough for him to hear. "William Lennox, I thought you told me you had cleaned the barn a week ago! What if we had had guests over?"

"Sweetie, sweetie, sweetie," Will said in a louder voice that allowed the teen to barely hear him. "You don't understand. I was going to clean the barn—I swear—but then Bobby told me-"

"Oh, you mean the same Bobby that stood in front of me—and his wife!—and _promised_ to help you do it too? What was that little spiel about teamwork helping to make it go by faster?"

The two in the barn snickered as Bobby pointedly refused to meet Will or Sarah's eye, instead jumping up and yelling for the couple's seven year old not to dive off the edge of the pool and hurrying off to catch him. Will gave his wife his most winning smiling but was inevitably dragged into the house by a not so pleased spouse.

"Wow," Shiloh finally said with a low whistle while Jaden continued to snicker. "Maybe it's just female's in general that are crazy."

"More like _very_ 'influential'." Jaden glanced over his shoulder where the boxes Sarah had been carrying were still sitting on the ground. He shuffled over to them and carefully moved them to sit beside the door where Will would see them when he had to come out here and finish the job Jaden had started. Once that was done, he grinned up at Shiloh with a gesture towards the overrun pool. "Ah don't know 'bout you, but Ah feel like Ah earned a lil' swim."

"Yeah, you go have fun," Shiloh said with a wave, having already informed the teenager that he couldn't swim on an earlier date. "I'm going to go for a ride before the old farts get here and spoil any fun I might be able to have."

Jaden nodded and dashed across the vast yard to the pool, pulling his shirt off and kicking off his shoes as he did. Right before he jumped in, making the younger kids squeal at being splashed and Bobby to shout at getting wet, he glanced over his shoulder and found Shiloh already gone from the barn and his car tearing down the dirt drive.

**)(**

A week passed before anyone else showed up at the farm. Jaden spent that time doing the small tasks that were now divvied out by Sarah and Monique, which varied from cleaning a pool, to mowing a lawn, to watching the little kids. He didn't mind—per usual—because Shareeka and Annabelle were often given those same tasks, and that gave them time to hang out with each other. And it wasn't like he was being worked to death; he was given just the right amount to be able to enjoy the downtime he got.

He was actually playing the role of a "sea monster" and knocking everyone off of their floats in the pool when Annabelle's little brother jumped out of the pool and ran towards the side of the house, letting everyone know that Dino had finally arrived. Jaden laughed as the pool was almost instantaneously void of anyone below the age of thirteen and began to aimlessly backstroke around the pool. "Sometimes Ah wish Ah was that age again."

"What are you talking about? You're still that age mentally," Shareeka commented, still a little upset by the fact that he had turned her float upside down. Now she was soaked when all she wanted to do was float around in the sun. Annabelle just grinned from where she lounged in her own float, as soaked as her friend was but enjoying it.

"At least there's always that," Jaden agreed wholeheartedly before grabbing the edge of the pool and looking over at where Will was grilling their meal for the night and Bobby was sitting nearby talking to the man. "How much longer 'till the burgers are done? Ah'm starving!"

Will used his spatula point at the teen in a very…pointing manner before going back to flipping the meat. Jaden grinned and flopped back into the water, restarting his internal stop watch to ask again in five more minutes. He'd eventually get an answer.

"Dino, Dino, Dino," he heard being excitedly repeated and found Annabelle's younger brother pulling a dark haired, properly dressed, tanned man around the corner of the house and into the backyard. "You've gotta see this model car dad got for me; it looks just like your car!"

The preteen galloped into the house without another word, leaving the man behind to sigh and shoot Will a look. "Your son acts as if I never visit."

Jaden grinned at the almost offended tone the man took on and floated towards that side of the pool. Dino, like Shiloh, was a frequent visitor of the Lennox household at least from what Jaden could tell during his short trips. Annabelle's brother practically worshiped the ground the normally arrogant Italian walked on, and it had taken a while for Jaden to understand why. Dino often looked down at the others around him, rarely giving any of the other children a second look. But the boy was obviously special because Dino took the time to listen to him and admire the model cars the boy had a knack for putting together. Sarah had once suspected it was because the boy was the only Lennox child that Dino had helped babysit when he was a baby.

"_Annabelle_. How long have you been out in this sun?"

Annabelle laughed as she used the side of the pool to spin her float around to see the older man standing beside the pool with his arms crossed over his chest and a calculating look on his face. "Don't worry Mr. Raphael. I'm not going to get skin cancer just from spending a little time outside. The sun's good for your health too!"

The army medic huffed at the girl's usual dismissal but just couldn't bring himself to glare as effectively at the teenagers as he did to his normal patients. He switched his stare from the girls to Jaden, and the boy stared back with equally blue eyes.

He sometimes wandered if the old doctor actually liked him. It wasn't like the man had come out and done something questionable towards him, but sometimes it just felt he was looking through him. Raphael would often take the opportunity to school the children in the topic of politics, which only Annabelle usually listened to with interest. He liked to say that he wanted the kids to be ready for not just fights fought in the physical way, but the ones fought with words as well. But when Jaden would say certain things, the man would stop and dismiss the children, ignoring Jaden for the next few hours before returning to comment on something they were doing that could potentially harm their health.

Right now was thankfully not one of those times as Raphael huffed and poked the teenager in the forehead when he finally reached his end of the pool. "I suppose you're going to tell us all about that little stunt you pulled a few months back. Really? Getting suspended from school because you decided to pick a fight?"

Jaden groaned at the topic that just would not leave him alone. He had _just_ gotten everyone else to stop bringing it up. "It wasn't a big deal-"

"Not a big deal?" the doctor interrupted, utterly offended at the notion. "You're willing to throw away your future to act big and tough? I knew that skating buffoon would be a terrible influence on you. I _told_ Prime not to allow him to spend so much time here."

Jaden was prepared for a tirade, knowing that when Raphael started it was impossible to stop him, when the unbelievable happened. Raphael stopped mid-sentence to turn and address the new young man that had come up behind to get his attention. "What?"

The very young man was completely new to Jaden, and he looked the man up and down with immense interest. Whereas the normal attire for pretty much all of the men still involved in the military that visited varied between neutral colors and military camo, practically every piece of clothing on the man was an eye-popping yellow and the only exceptions to that were when the yellow was broken by black. He even wore a yellow beanie with black stripes on his blonde head. His eyes were just as blue as everyone else's, but they somehow managed to hold twice as much expression in them than half of his companions' faces did.

He beamed at the older man, and Raphael sighed. "Fine, allow him to become a hoodlum. He can join your little party of irresponsibility."

With that, Raphael stomped off to sit on the porch, leaving the new blonde behind to shyly smile at Jaden and blink in confusion when he realized the two girls had joined the boy on the edge of the pool. He nervously waved at them, and Shareeka took that as a signal to say, "Hey, you're new. What's your name?"

He pursed his lips, as if to figure out how to answer, before he was abruptly pulled away from the pool. The twins pointedly glared at the older teenagers as they pulled the poor man away. "Nu uh!"

"You guys already have military dudes."

"This one's ours!"

A rambunctious guffaw snapped the teens from the surprise that had been born from the random act they had just seen, and Shiloh came to a stop beside them, still laughing at his companion's predicament. "Good luck 'Bee! Those girls are practically the epitome of crazy."

'Bee's face broke into a look of terror and he frantically looked for a way to escape as the girls dragged him further and further away. Shiloh chuckled at his lack of luck and turned to Jaden. "Hey, Otto wants to talk to you in private when you get the time. He said there was no big rush, but I'd catch him sooner rather than later. You never know when he's gonna get a call back out to the field."

Jaden nodded and immediately swam to the ladder, leaving his two friends behind to sunbathe in peace. He grabbed one of the towels that had been lying by the pool and gave Bobby a little wave to let his brother know where he was going. The grass clippings from where he had mowed the lawn earlier stuck to his feet as he walked around the house, and by the time he managed to make it around the house where the guys' had parked, his feet were an itchy mess.

Otto's huge semi sat at the end of the line of sports cars (and Raphael's emergency vehicle), and Jaden saw the man standing in front of it, seemingly waiting for him to appear. Otto was one of those people that Jaden couldn't help but automatically have respect for. His regal manner and soothing voice made him stand out amongst his men, though it also made Jaden sometimes nervous to approach him, which didn't happen very often with the teen. But he liked the advice he got from the man on the few occasions that he did ask for it.

But he didn't like the neutral expression on the man's face at the moment, and he had a pretty good idea as to why it was that way. "Jaden-"

"_Please_ don't grill me about the fight Ah got in," Jaden begged as he recognized the deep and serious tone as being one that he had heard more than enough of by now. "Okay? Ah get that people got upset about it, and yes, Ah got suspended for three days for it. But Ah aint plannin' on doin' it again! That fight was a result o' months' worth o' anger an' annoyance fo' that kid, an' the final straw was havin' 'im talk crap ta my best friend. Ah'm not turnin' into no hoodlum who gets in fights on a daily basis."

Otto blinked at the outburst, and Jaden almost felt bad for having done it. _Almost_. But he was tired of having that one screw-up brought up over and over and _over_ again. Yes, he had gotten into a fight, but he had acknowledged he had done bad not long after that. He shouldn't have thrown a punch at the kid at all; he should have walked away with Mattie and ignored the kid. And that's what he would do next time.

"Well," Otto started, and Jaden cringed. Now he was regretting having snapped at the man. It wasn't his fault the fight kept being brought up. "I believe I owe you an apology."

The teenager blinked. "What?"

"I sorely misjudged you character, and for that I apologize." A small, nearly indecipherable smile flittered across the military commander's face at the look of pure astonishment on Jaden's face. "I thought that your actions would need to be addressed in order to prevent a repeat of the incident. You can likely tell that the news of your fight did not go over well here."

"Tell me about it," Jaden muttered, wrapping his towel around his shoulders as the sun beat down on him. "I thought my mom was disappointed; that's like nothin' compared to you guys. Even Shiloh was gettin' on to me."

The man chuckled and leaned up against the grill of his truck. Jaden thought it was funny how close each man seemed to be to their cars, even Raphael. Some of them even pitched a fit when someone else leaned up against it.

"It appears you have made quite an impression on us," Otto said with an amused twinkle in his deep blue eyes.

"I'm not the only one. Bells been tellin' me that Raphael goes inta hissy fits whenever she tries ta put makeup on, tellin' her it's gonna ruin her skin. An' 'Reeka says she thinks one o' your guys like her. A guy that talks really fast an' ya can't understand a word he says."

"Yes, it does appear that way," the man said, looking extremely thoughtful. Apparently it had been the first time that this had been brought to his attention, and Jaden felt a little smug for being the one to point it out. "Perhaps I should bring that up at a later time."

"Cool," Jaden said while wiggling his toes into the grass beneath him. The clippings were all between his toes and making his ankles itch now. "Was that it? Ah think Ah'm smellin' some burgers bein' taken off the grill."

"Just one moment." The teenager pouted at being prevented to run off but stayed in place. He blinked at the concern the older man was displaying towards him. "Is there something else that is bothering you? I know that you are upset with the fight being continuously brought up, but I feel as if there is more to it than just that."

Jaden swallowed as his throat felt suddenly dry. How had he –of course. This was _Otto_. He seemed to magically pick up on every little thing. "It –it's kinda stupid…"

"Please," Otto insisted with a wave. "If it is enough to cause you to be upset, then it is not 'stupid', as you would say."

The boy nodded and moved to lean back against the truck beside Otto, making sure that his towel protected his back from the heated metal. The big vehicle shifted slightly under him, but it was so minute that he barely noticed. "It's just somethin' Ah started thinkin' 'bout after the fight. Ah didn't really notice it at the time 'cause Ah just thought it was somethin' that happened in fights. But Ah started really thinkin' 'bout it…an' Ah'm not so sure anymore."

Jaden paused to gather his thoughts before continuing. "Ah threw that punch without thinkin'. Like seriously, not this whole 'it happened so fast' kinda stuff. It just…happened. Like an instinct or somethin'. And in the fight, Ah didn't just haul on the guy 'til a lucky shot made him bleed. A part o' me was pickin' out all his weak points, notin' which ways he leaned, which sides he favored. Ah'm happy Ah got that shot in when Ah did 'cause now Ah'm scared o' what mighta happened if he got back up or the teachers hadn't stopped us."

Otto waited patiently for boy to continue, knowing that that wasn't the end, but when Jaden didn't continue he decided he would have to prompt the teenager to do so. "What exactly is it that has you upset?"

Jaden snapped his head to the side to stare up at the man with chilling blue eyes. "Ah think Ah was gonna kill him."

The statement clearly threw the man off as all he could do was stare back with surprise. Jaden looked away and stared at the ground in evident shame. "Ah swear that's wha' was gonna through my head at the time. Like Ah part o' me Ah didn't even know existed was tryin' ta figure out whether it woulda been easier to snap his neck or push 'im ta the floor and bash his head against it. Ah just…Ah don't know! It's somethin' that keeps me awake at night, and Ah'm scared of it. Like legit scared Otto."

"How exactly do you know those were you thoughts?" Otto calmly asked, and Jaden admired how he was able to take something like this so calmly. But then again, Otto had probably seen worse as a soldier. He wandered if Bobby would be this calm if he had chosen to tell his brother instead. But somehow telling Bobby about this seemed so much harder than Otto. "I find it hard to believe that you remember your exact thoughts from a fight that must have lasted barely five minutes."

"Ah didn't, but Ah still saw the kid 'round school, an' each time Ah did, Ah started thinkin' like that again. It's like no matter wha' Ah do or how hard Ah try ta focus on somethin' else, my head's keepin' a constant lock on 'im. Like he's the enemy an' Ah gotta strike first before he does. What if Ah can't control it one day and do that?"

Otto placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and reassuringly squeezed. He could feel the tension in the boy instantly fleeing from that one gesture. "You will not, and I will tell you why. Because you choose not to. This is simply a feeling you must teach yourself to control, and you have already begun to do just that. Each time you saw that boy, you chose to look the other way instead of allowing those thoughts to consume you. You have already told me that the fight was a onetime occurrence and you would not seek to start another. It may seem difficult at first, but I believe you are one of the few people that could overcome it."

Jaden stared up at the man with thoughtful eyes before slowly nodding. "Yeah…you're right! Ah can fight this. Ah'm not a killer an' Ah aint about to become one just 'cause Ah can't fight a _feeling._"

Otto smiled at the boy's raised spirit, already taking note of the improvements it had on his outward appearance. But something still felt off… "Is there something else that has you upset?"

The teen suddenly deflated with a nod. "Yeah…kinda."

"If it will help, I will listen to that as well."

"Ah'm short."

The man blinked, being surprised for the third time by the teenager. Only Jaden could throw him off so many times in such a brief interval of time. "I'm sorry?"

"Man, you aint gotta be sorry fo' my shortness," Jaden teased even as the knowledge of his shortness truly seemed to upset him. "But Ah'm, like, the shortest person in my school now 'cause my best friend just gained a freakin' foot. Do you know what it's like ta have the _girls_ tower over you? It ain cool, that's fo' sure."

"…I'm afraid I can do nothing for height," Otto started off slowly, "but perhaps hope that you encounter a growth spurt that allows you to overcome you classmates in height."

Jaden laughed. Only Otto could make something so simple sound so serious. Otto shook his head in amusement as the teenager straightened up and adjusted his warm towel over his shoulder. "With you hopin', Ah'm sure Ah'll grow ta be as tall as you…but hey, thanks for listenin'. You know, more fo' the other stuff than the height thing. It helped a lot."

Optimus smiled as Jaden hurried around the house to the backyard where younger children had finally taken notice of his disappearance. He sighed and felt a little thankful that the Autobots sitting in line next to him had to focus mainly on their holoforms and missed the little confession that had taken place. He hadn't expected what was upsetting the boy had been a "Jazz" thing.

Because Jaden had been right: it wasn't normal for a teenage boy to be thinking that way. But a Special Ops agent who had been embroiled in a civil war for too long? That small part of Jazz that still existed in the boy must have been kicked started when he had gotten into that fight. In a way, it was just an instinct that had been finely honed by Jazz attempting to protect Jaden from being hurt, but Jazz's worries had gone beyond that. He had to ensure his survival at just about every turn, even while walking among his allies.

Optimus could simply hope that what he had told Jaden was true. That the boy could fight off those ingrained instincts and continue living a normal life. He would outright loathe that being the reason why Jaden function in society, constantly worrying about his thoughts becoming actions.

He sighed and turned his eyes to the sky above him, barely noting the wispy white clouds that stretched across the deep blue sky. "Primus, I pray that you help that boy overcome his past. If it were truly your plan to have him live a normal life, I believe that he will need your help in doing so."

Optimus felt a rare calm suddenly run through him, making his real form shudder on its axles behind him. He had no doubt the powerful entity had heard him. He just hoped that it had done something to help.

* * *

**AN:** Now that the chapter is complete, here's a little Autobot name guide thingy:

Toby: Topspin  
Ross: Roadbuster  
Leland: Leadfoot  
Shiloh: Sideswipe  
Bently: Bumblebee  
Raphael: Ratchet

And of course, Otto was Optimus :) We'll see a little more of them in the next chapter or two because the main focus will be during Jaden's summers with them. So…yeah. 'Til next update :D


	27. Dating and Other Things

**AN:** Sorry about the recent neglect for this story :(. My other one was giving me trouble, and I couldn't stop in the middle of it to write for Rebirth without completely losing what little willpower I had in writing it. But I'm updating on an odd day because I care :D

**Warnings:** Jaden has a potty mouth in this chapter (we can blame the Wreckers' influence ;D)

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Twenty Six

Dating and Other Things

* * *

"No."

Sebastian glanced up from the TV to where Jaden and Mattie were sitting at the kitchen table, staring at each from where they across from each other. The preteen minutely rolled his dark brown eyes and turned back to the program he had been watching, absentmindedly petting the Burmese curled up beside him. He received a satisfied purr from Turmoil, and he paid equal attention to Tumble, who had jumped up on the couch with them when he noticed the attention his "brother" was getting, before continuing to subtly listen to the conversation between the teenagers.

"You seriously have no say in this Jaden."

"Yeah Ah do, an' Ah say no!"

"And why not?"

"'Cause she's a bitch!"

"Jaden!"

"What? It's da truth! Why else do ya think Ah ignored 'er last year? Upper classman or not, a bitch is a bitch."

"You haven't even talked to her yet! You just took one look at her across the lunchroom and said you wanted nothing to do with her."

"Yeah, an' when else did Ah do that? Ding ding! To the jackass dat bullied you. Need Ah say more?"

"This is different! She's part of the computer club, and I spent a lot of time with her last year. She's a nice girl."

"Whatever. Where's Robbie? Ah bet she'd agree with me."

"She's…not talking to me right now."

"Why not?"

"We kinda had a blowup when you were at your brother's. She's not returning any of my phone calls and telling her mom not to let me in when I go see her."

"Was it because o' the bitch?"

"Jaden!"

"It's a simple question man!"

"I'm not even going dignify that offensive question with an answer."

"It was, wasn't it? Robbie agrees! That's when ya know ya wrong man."

"Just because you two agree on something doesn't mean you're right."

"Uh, yeah it does."

"_No_, it doesn't."

"Yeah huh."

"Nu uh."

"Yeah huh."

"_Nu uh._"

"_Yeah hu –_dammit! Sebastian your dumb bird's on my head again!"

Tumble and Turmoil made noisy complaints as Sebastian shooed them off his lap in order to twist around and look over the back of the couch. He blankly stared at the little yellow bird gripping the short curls on Jaden's head, and the animal innocently twittered as it hopped around. Jaden caught the younger boy's eye and glared. "Ah told ya to keep your door closed when Ah'm over here!"

Sebastian shrugged and slowly crawled out of the indentation he had created in the couch cushion and shuffled over to them, carefully stepping over the stack of CDs his dad had placed by the door in order to remember to give them to Jaden when he got home (speaking of which, Sebastian needed to remember to sneak a few of those CDs back out of that stack…). He sniffed distastefully at the sight of the teenagers' lunch—some exceptionally greasy fast food they had procured on their way over to his apartment—and stared at the bird. The tiny size let him know that It was Pip Squeak who had escaped, but just in case he needed confirmation, the purple colored ribbon tied above its diminutive talons solidified his identity.

Sebastian tilted his head to one side then the other, and Jaden's glare intensified. "Come on man! Just get the damn bird off my head."

"You came back home with such dirty language…again," Sebastian droned. "I can't get him off."

"What' d'ya mean ya 'can't get him off'?"

"His talons are stuck." Sebastian gestured for the teen to stand and walked off towards the back of the apartment without waiting to see if he followed. "We can use the clippers I use to clip Turmoil, Tumble, and Howl's nails. That way you don't have a bald spot right before school starts."

Jaden grumbled but followed nonetheless, shooting a glare back at the snickering Mattie. He grimaced as he entered the back room of the apartment. No offense to Sebby, but he always hated coming into the boy's room. Ever since getting his first cat, it's always just smelled like litter box and animal in spite of the numerous air freshners set up throughout the room.

Despite his dislike for his "brother's" pets in general, Jaden was careful not to startle the tiny bird as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "Hurry up an' get it off 'fore it decides ta use my head as a toilet…_again._"

He blinked as Sebastian simply reached over and plucked the bird off, his normally bored expression melting away as he cooed at the animal and reprimanded if for escaping the room that served as its "cage." Jaden just stared at him slack jawed until the boy's rescued Dachshund began snuffling at his sneakers. "What the heck man? Ah thought you said he was stuck!"

"I lied," Sebastian monotonously stated before releasing the canary to flutter over and join its other canary roommates by the window. "You should let Mattie date whoever he wants."

"Ah figured you weren't watchin' that documentary on toothpicks," Jaden grumbled as he sat his elbows on his knees to cradle his chin. "But Ah can't let him. Not after Ah didn't rust my gut last time. Nearly lost him."

"But this is different. He's making the conscious choice to put himself into a committed relationship that could or could not end horribly. You guys will be starting your sophomore year of high school, and I hear from my dad that having multiple relationships throughout your high school career is perfectly normal. It allows a person to learn what it is they prefer in their significant other and gives them the experience they may need later in life. So if turns out bad then it'll just another learning experience…what?"

Jaden just stared at the young boy before slowly reaching into his pocket and pulling out his latest pair of sunglasses—the ones with neon pink hear frames that his youngest cousin had given him—and propped them on his nose. He pursed his lips in a thoughtful expression. "How do you know so much 'bout dating?"

"There was this girl in my class who was constantly trying to get me to out with her, so my dad gave me a really drawn out speech about girls until I told him I had already had a class about it"

"What! How come my ten year ol' brother's gotta girl houndin' him an' not one o' them will look my way?"

"Because you wear stuff like that in public."

"Hey, you can't be a trendsetter by lookin' normal." Jaden happily grinned while Sebastian rolled his eyes. The grin fell from the teenager's face a moment later. "So, ya really think Ah should let Mattie do this? 'Cause this girl's always givin' me bad vibes, an' Ah don' want him ta get hurt 'cause of it."

"Jaden," Sebastian admonished with a sigh as he moved to sit beside the older boy, picking up the small dog to sit in his lap. "I know you have this hero complex thing, but sometimes a person needs to be hurt. You can't learn anything by being coddled your entire life. And it's not like he isn't already sticking his tongue down her throat."

"Ew!" Jaden shrieked, making the canaries on the windowsill scatter and the poor old dog next to him to bark in surprise. "That's just– you're _ten _man! It's _worse_ hearin' it come from you."

"What? There are worse things out there. I could have told you they were-"

"No!" Jaden screamed as he scrambled off the bed, slapping his hands over his ears. "Just shut up! Ah get wha'chu said—Ah take it ta heart. Just…keep ya mouth shut for another ten years."

Sebastian shrugged and waited for the teenager to be halfway out the door before speaking again. "But you know, it wouldn't hurt to have an 'I told you so' to rub in his face when everything goes south."

Jaden instantly twirled around on one foot, grasping the door frame to eagerly lean back into the room. "Keep talking."

"Make a bet. If the girl dumps him before winter break have him do something so embarrassing that he never thinks to question your gut instinct again."

Sebastian grimaced as the teenager skipped back into the room to place a smacking (obnoxiously wet) kiss in the middle of his forehead. "That's why Ah kept you bro. Your devious lil' head goes perfectly with my good looks."

Jaden missed the scheming smirk that slowly spread across Sebastian's face as he hurried back to the kitchen to give his friend the new ultimatum.

Devious indeed.

**~:0:~**

Two months later, Sebastian received a series of text messages from Robin, his unofficial partner in crime. He was immediately sent to the nurse's office after spontaneously bursting into fits of laughter in the middle of class, and he continued to laugh as he sat outside the nurse's office, saving the picture of Mattie in a clown suit—red nose and all—along with the video file of Jaden shamelessly twerking up against the high school principal.

Because of course he had known that both teenagers would lose the bet. Robin had given him inside information that would lead _Mattie _to be the one to break the brief relationship. All he had had to do was manipulate the bet to ride on the fact that the girl had to be the one to break it off and have Robin "conveniently" placed to point out that small, _insignificant,_ detail.

It was a shame that no one would ever fully appreciate the delicate work it took to get blackmail worthy of his tastes.


	28. Driver's Ed

**AN:** Another update!

* * *

Rebirth

Chapter Twenty Six

Driver's Ed.

* * *

"Mama! Sign this."

Lorraine immediately stopped in the doorway and propped her hands on her hips. She pursed her lips at the teenager standing in front of her, paper in one hand, pen in the other, and a wide smile on his face. "Is this how you greet your _hardworking_, _elderly_ mama when she comes home after standing behind a counter all day?"

She grinned at the fact that she was already being hugged by the teenager that was _almost_ taller than her. The poor boy—he'd been constantly adding lines to the doorframe of the bedroom just to know when he finally started to grow past the height that's been a constant for the past five years. She just hoped he was like her little Bobby, shooting up with like a beanpole the moment he hit seventeen.

"Ah'm sorry," Jaden apologized sincerely before releasing her and holding up the two items once more. "Can ya sign it now?"

Lorraine sighed, and with a roll of her eyes put her things down by the door before slowly making her way into the kitchen, an eager son following at her heels like a puppy. She poked around the cabinets while Jaden impatiently bounced on the heels of his feet by the table. "You eaten supper yet, or am havin' to cook for two."

The teenager made a noise in the back of his throat before putting the pen and paper down on the table. He hurried over to the microwave and pulled out an already prepared plate and put it down beside the paper with a flourish. "Ah made supper already!"

"Really?" Lorraine questioned as she caught site of a slender take-out box shoved into the trash can. Jaden proudly nodded and removed the napkin that had been covering the plate with another flourish. Her eyebrows shot up in mock surprise at the slice of supreme pizza sitting perfectly in the middle of the dish. "Oh my. You must _really_ want this paper signed."

"Actually Ah just got tired o' waitin' for you ta come home," Jaden admitted as he pulled out another prepared plate and sat down beside her. He took a big bite from one of the slices on his plate and liberally chewed before pointing down at the paper. "But since we're talkin' 'bout it, can ya sign it now."

Lorraine shook her head at his impatience and picked the paper up to read it. She scrutinized the permission slip and glanced over the top of it at a still grinning Jaden. "Really?"

"Yep!"

"I thought you were in the middle of a semester. Did you drop a class for this?"

"Naw! Some classes only last a quarter o' a semester then we sign up for others. Ah'm switchin' art for this."

"You don't even have a learners." Lorraine looked up from the sheet once more when Jaden didn't voice some way of getting around the class requirement and stared suspiciously when he refused to meet her gaze, picking at the peppers on his pizza. "Now, I know for a fact I didn't take you down to the DMV, sit for hours while waiting for our turn, and then sign for you to take that test. Something ya wanna tell me boy?"

Jaden mumbled something under his breath and began to tear his pizza apart. Lorraine leaned closer to him. "You better look at me when I ask you a question." The teenager looked up and darted his eyes around the general area around her face, repeating what he had said into his hand this time. "One more time."

"Ah mighta…forged your signature." He bowed his head in shame at the hard stare his mother gave him. "Ah'm sorry! Ah didn't know it'd actually work. If it makes you feel better, Ah almost failed the test because Ah felt so guilty."

"How'd you even get to the DMV?"

"Took the bus after school with Sebby."

"So you involved Sebastian in this too? The little boy that looks up to you and Samantha trusted in your care while her and Zach worked?"

"Ah'm sorry!"

Lorraine released a heavy sigh as Jaden's forehead practically rested on the edge of the table in the shame. At least he acknowledged what he had done was bad; it was more than she ever got from Bobby at this age. And if he could forge her signature, he wouldn't have asked her to sign a piece of paper that would get him caught, meaning that deep down he felt truly guilty for what he had done and had wanted to be caught. Being caught in the act was something that Jaden normally didn't allow.

"_Well, it's not like I can just take the license away," _Lorraine thought as she sighed and put the paper down. _"'Sides, where's he gonna get a car to drive?"_

"Lemme see it."

Jaden immediately shot up from the table and took off out of the room. Lorraine shook her head at his behavior and was halfway through her pizza slice when he returned from his little corner of personal items, holding the piece of plastic out to her with a morose expression. "Ah never used it, but Ah do wanna learn how ta drive. 'Reeka and 'Bells were already drivin' around by themselves when Ah left."

"Why didn't you just ask Bobby to teach you?" Lorraine asked as she took the learners permit. She pursed her lips in an attempt not to laugh at the horrible face he was giving the camera at the time of the picture. "You're terrible at takin' good pictures."

"Ah thought it was great!" Jaden joked as he moved to look over her shoulder. He made the same face as the picture, inspiring a brief chuckle from his mother. "An' Bobby said he wasn't gonna teach me 'til Ah got my learners, which Ah didn't 'til Ah came back home. Then he said Ah'd have ta have your permission 'cause he wasn't gonna do nothing if you didn't approve. Said somethin' about already havin' lost too many brain cells or somethin'."

Lorraine hummed at Bobby's exaggerated excuse and handed the license back to the teenager. Jaden yelped as she used the closeness between them to grab the collar of his shirt and drag him even closer to look him in the eye, hard brown clashing with terrified blue. "I'm gonna let this slide just this once, but if I hear you forging my signature for _anything_ else, and you aint gonna have a very happy mama."

Jaden frantically nodded, horrible images of the punishments Bobby had described from his teenage years flashing through his head. He didn't see how Bobby had managed to continue his rebellious years if he was on the receiving end of the same icy eyes; they were such a harsh contrast from her normally kind eyes. "Ah promise neva' ta do it again mama! Ah swear!"

He flinched as she released him to roughly pat him on the head and turned back to the permission slip, which she signed. "Good. You got talents Jaden; don't squander them on lawless things like that…and don't crash the school's car. We can't afford to get them another car."

She shook her head at the wide, innocent smile her son gave her and finished the meal he had "prepared". She had long since gotten used to the little ball of dread his "innocent" smiles induced. He had been perfecting them since he was two after all.

**~:0:~**

"Mr. Hoffman, I don't trust Jaden behind the wheel of a car," Mattie said a week later as the seat in front of him practically vibrated with excitement. He huddled up in the backseat with another student as the instructor wedged himself into the passenger's seat, and Jaden eagerly rubbed his hands together with a demented (at least from Mattie's view in the rearview mirror) grin. "He just got his learners two months ago and has never touched a car in his life."

"That is a lie!" Jaden cried dramatically, slamming his fists down on the steering wheel and yelping when the car released a shrill honk. "Ah meant ta do that!"

"I appreciate your concern…Mr. Matthew Donnelly." Mattie scowled at the use of his full name while the teacher just blew off his concerns. "But this is what the class is for. I am here to provide you with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for vehicle safety both as a driver and as a pedestrian."

The ginger scowled even more as the adult monotonously read from the clipboard he held and made sure that his seatbelt was properly secured. Then he clicked down the lock on his door and reached up to grip the handle bar above the window. With _both _hands. "If I die today, then I'll haunt you for the rest of your life."

"What if Ah die too?"

"Then I'll just beat you up in the afterlife."

"That's not very nice. You still mad 'bout the clown thing?" Jaden grunted when the back of his seat was kicked. "Yeah, you still mad."

"Mr. Donnelly," their instructor said warningly as he checked something off on his clipboard. "Please refrain from damaging the interior. The school spent a lot of money to buy a new car this year. Now Mr. Robinson please put the car in reverse so that we can-"

"Okie dokie!" The car jerked forward, and its occupants suddenly flew forward as Jaden unceremoniously slammed on the brakes. "Whoops. Guess Ah shoulda checked that." The car was shifted to the correct gear and they shot out of the parking spot, spinning around with a squeal of tires and making them all jerk forward again when he stopped. "Step one complete! Where to now chief?"

Mattie felt a muscle above his eye twitch as the teacher tentatively ordered Jaden out of the parking lot and onto the semi-busy street beside the school. He gripped the handle even tighter and prayed that he made it to his turn to drive.

**~:0:~**

"Ah passed!"

Lorraine blinked at the paper that was shoved into her face before Jaden pulled it away for her to see his grin. She pursed her lips and brought her eyebrows together as she scrutinized the paper he still held up. "What do you mean 'you passed'? I just signed that permission slip last week!"

"Yeah! But after we got back to the school, Mr. Hoffman took me back ta his office and signed the waiver fo' me. He just said Ah'd have ta wait 'til the end o' the class ta go get my driver's license. Other than that an' promisin' ta never drive him around again, Ah passed."

Lorraine frowned at the "innocent" grin. "What did you to that poor man?"

"Ah didn't do nothin' 'cept drive!" Jaden protested, but the mischievous glint in his eyes didn't go unnoticed by his mother. She stared him down, hands moving to her hips and lips thinning into a knowing frown, until his white grin finally fell. "Okay, okay! Ah mighta exaggerated a bit while drivin'."

"By doin' _what_?"

"Well…Ah acted like Ah didn't know Ah was s'posed ta stop at red lights…and almost flipped da car when Ah took a turn too quickly. Then there was that poor lady Ah mighta given a heart attack…"

"Jaden Robinson," Lorraine said severely, "you take that paper back _tomorrow_ an' do that class right. This is just like any other class and you can't just take shortcuts through it."

"But-"

"_No buts._ You start learnin' to take shortcuts through everything in life and eventually ya gonna take one that you shouldn't." Lorraine sighed at the disgruntlement that appeared on her son's face and took his cheeks between her hands, forcing him to look directly at her. "Like I've said many times before, you got a great mind sittin' between your shoulders. But just because you got a talent for weaseling your way outta things doesn't mean you always need to exercise it. You're not cheatin' your way out of a class."

Jaden continued to scowl for a moment before shrugging. "Okay. But it's not like Ah don't know how to drive already."

"I thought you said Bobby wouldn't teach you."

"He wouldn't, but Shiloh didn't see a problem with it." Jaden shrugged as his mother gave him the "So you _lied_ to me" stare. "_Technically_, Ah didn't lie. Ah said _Bobby_ wouldn't teach me, and Ah wanted ta learn how ta drive, which are both true. Ah just wanted to learn how ta drive with other cars instead of on a dirt road."

"If that's it, then why did you want to take the class so badly?"

"'Cause the waiver means Ah don't have ta drive around so many hours or take a drivin' test at the DMV."

Lorraine shook her head as he flashed a smile and danced away from her to return to whatever he had been doing before she had arrived. He'd always had a thing about shortening the amount of time it took to do things. She just hoped that he took what she just said to heart because sooner or later he was going to learn that some paths in life didn't afford those nifty little side roads he had a talent for finding.


End file.
